Bury Their Ashes: An Undertale Fanfiction (Undergoing Rewrite!)
by Starkeeper-the-Storyteller
Summary: A girl named Miranda Halden goes to Mt. Ebott to find her sister Lyren and falls into the Kingdom of Monsters. She finds herself the only hope against the scourge of the genocide run. Does Miranda have the DETERMINATION to push forward, and can Flowey come to terms with his fragmented memories of the True Pacifist run and remember himself? T for violence, death, and mild language.
1. I'm Rewriting This Story!

Hello, all! I'm rewriting this story because I feel like my writing quality and style has changed since I began. I'll take this announcement down once I re-cover all the old plot points. Chapter 1 is already up! To figure out which chapters are new and which are old, look for the (RW) in the title. If it's present then the chapter has been rewritten.

_-Starkeeper_


	2. Chapter One: Shadow of the Mountain RW

Miranda paced the floor of her foster home's kitchen, looking at the clock on the crisp white stove more often than she probably needed to. Nobody could blame the ten-year-old, though. She was waiting for her foster dad, Harrison, to come home with news- _any_ news- about her sister Lyren. The afternoon sunlight of early May streamed through the windows as Miranda's footsteps _click_ed against the tile. Harrison's voice hummed a somber tune as he walked in.

Miranda's face took on a look of pleading hope. Harrison gave an apologetic sigh. "No luck, kid. She wasn't at the college. Jennifer might be able to find out something at the police station, but... well, I won't give you false hope. It's unlikely."

Miranda bit her lip, fighting tears. "So... so she went... t-to Mt. Eb-Ebott?"

"That really is the only possible explanation, Miranda. I'm sorry," Harrison said as he embraced her in a side hug. "Hey, to get your mind off of it, why don't we bake a cake? We'll do your favorite, a marble cake with chocolate frosting. We can even make it a layer cake if you want!"

Miranda sniffled a bit and nodded with a small smile, wiping her tears. "That sounds nice..."

The two went to work on the sweet masterpiece. Even when Jennifer, Harrison's wife and Miranda's foster mom, came in without any news of Lyren's whereabouts except that her boyfriend Jeremiah had _also_ gone missing, Miranda had managed to accept it. Besides, she wasn't gonna ruin her favorite cake with tears! Her room felt particularly lonely that night without her older sister's light breathing, though. Miranda didn't realize how used she was to it. Luckily, her cat Mr. Fuzzyton felt like snuggling that night so she was at least able to get to sleep.

* * *

-Five years later-

* * *

"This organization day has been SO overdue!" Miranda decided as she hefted the third box of old toys onto her bed. She sorted through the top half fairly quickly since it was all dolls that, though a few had belonged to Lyren, Miranda had little interest in. Besides, they were being donated to kids who'd really enjoy them. Lyren would've liked that- Miranda remembered that she'd always been into charity and was always the first to volunteer for food drives and community events. But then she came to the bottom half, which was mostly journals. Miranda was too self-conscious to read most of them, setting them into a "don't donate but also I'm not using it" pile she'd made, but one of them was marked with the year Lyren left, and it was definitely Lyren's journal. Miranda couldn't help herself. After sorting the rest of the journals and looking back through a few of her own, cringe-laughing at some of the earliest ones, she sat on her bed and opened Lyren's journal. There was almost no indication whatsoever of _why_ Lyren left until the late April and early May entries. Miranda couldn't stop herself from tearing up. Lyren had gone... because she wanted to help. She was totally aware that she was going to Mt. Ebott. Lyren had learned about a several century-old war between humans and monsters in an old history book and, typical for Lyren, she'd written a bunch down in her journal.

**_Long ago, two races ruled over Earth. Humans... and monsters. They lived in peace. In harmony. Until one terrible day, when war broke out between the two races. Many vicious battles raged over the decade span of the war._**

**_The Battle of Ebott Woods. One of the earliest battles of the war, a massive defeat for humanity's side as we were unaware of how our bodies reacted to magic._**

**_The Dustspill at Rigonan River. A band of soldiers bitter from a small defeat earlier massacred a monster camp, including their king Darriel. The princess Toriel and her husband Asgore were made the rulers of the monsters in the days following. This battle destroyed any remaining hopes for an easy peace._**

**_The Struggle at Ebott Falls. The battle from which came the Color Guard- talented human magic users._**

**_Caitlin Rarem the Steadfast, the crimson soul of pure determination._**

**_Allie Partoa the Lion-Hearted, the orange soul of bravery._**

**_Samuel Wise, Shining Law, the golden soul of justice._**

**_Jamie Howard the Caring, the green soul of kindness._**

**_Adam Jones the True, blue soul of integrity._**

**_Polly Lonare, Pouncing Lioness, cyan soul of patience._**

**_Jeremiah Mallen the Unyielding, purple soul of perseverance._**

**_Michael_****_ Halden, Paragon of Fury, black soul of fury._**

Miranda paused. Halden was her last name. _Guess he's an ancestor. That's cool._

**_The Defense of Ebott Village. A small band of monsters, including King Asgore, held a town hostage as retribution for a failed ambush on a monster cargo supply. Michael Halden managed to negotiate the release of the town in return for the release of a human general._**

**_The Battle of Vengeance. After Michael Halden was executed on treason charges, Caitlin Rarem, who had been Halden's rival since Ebott Falls, foolishly sent the latter's body to the monsters to gloat. Enraged at this display of hate and cruelty against their friend, the monsters struck at the main human camp with unparalleled power, eliminating nearly a quarter of the human forces there. This battle forced the war council to find an alternative solution, leading them to choose to banish the monsters to Mount Ebott._**

**_The Ebott Push. The Color Guard led humanity to victory against the monsters, sealing them below the mountain with a magic barrier. In memory of Michael Halden, however, Samuel Wise and Jeremiah Mallen left a weakness in the barrier. If the monsters could gather the power of seven human souls, they would be able to break the barrier forever. The two justified their decision by pointing out the lack of human souls absorbed during the war even when it would have been totally justified._**

Miranda let out a shaky breath as she finished reading. She turned one more page to find a message for her.

**_Miranda, I figure you'll read this eventually. I couldn't say how you'll react to this, but... please don't look for me. I'm secure in my convictions. I'm sorry I never told you what I was doing, but I knew you'd beg to come with me. I didn't want you to die too. I love you, sis. That'll never change. Keep that big heart of yours open for me, okay? Our family already has one person to follow Michael's example. You live your life happy, okay? You deserve that._**

Tears dripped down Miranda's face. But she couldn't help the smile she wore. She sat the journal down and pulled out her headphones and her phone, selecting a random playlist to listen to. It was probably half an hour before she eventually stopped and chuckled.

"Oh, Lyren... I miss you. But you... you honestly should know I'm going to the mountain _just_ _because_ you asked me not to," she murmured. It was time to pack for a journey to the mountain.

* * *

Miranda surveyed her supplies. Her charged phone, headphones, and sketchbook with pencils, a hoodie in case it was cold, an extra pair of shoes, a change of clothes, two water bottles, and a peanut butter sandwich. And Lyren's journal. She wrote a note for Harrison and Jennifer thanking them for everything and explaining why she was leaving in case she didn't return. She slipped everything in her backpack, zipped it, and sneaked out the door. Her eyes settled on the looming shadow to the west and she steeled herself for whatever might come.

Miranda had no idea what she was about to face.

* * *

So, hope you like this rewrite! I was kind of tired of the Gaster subplot in the other version and honestly I feel like I've improved in my writing since I started this story. I plan to keep the updates semi-regular this time and not leave you guys hanging for half a year, lol. See you next chapter!

_-Starkeeper_


	3. Chapter Two: Changes in the Timeline RW

So yeah I already rewrote chapter two but let's just say I wasn't happy with it. Also I'm betareading for user _canthatewhatyoucantsee_ and they reminded me in the author's notes of the latest chapter of their story that I need to get off my lazy procrastinating butt and update this story! Enjoy, Chapter Three hopefully coming a lot sooner than this one took to be reworked C:

* * *

The mountain felt weird.

Not necessarily in a literal sense, but with all the stories of disappearing kids and the shadow that had loomed over the valley for untold centuries, Miranda didn't expect something so... inviting. It just didn't feel like a mountain where kids went to disappear; instead, it felt like the kind of place someone might go for a picnic or to meet a friend for a campout.

Miranda began to look for a place for Lyren to have gone when a psychotic laugh split her ears. Miranda clamped her hands over her ears, but it barely helped. The laughter finally faded, briefly replaced by a cry of agony, but the moment Miranda lifted her hands from her ears the sound of several explosions arose. She staggered to the ground and squeezed her eyes shut, pleading for it all to go away. As suddenly as it came, however, the noise faded. She let out a trembling sigh and stumbled down the path her body's meeting with the ground had revealed. She came to a massive cave with a gaping hole at the bottom, leading into a huge cavern lit only by the afternoon sunlight shining on a small patch of grass and something yellow- Miranda guessed flowers or bushes. She swallowed and took a step forward to check it out, attempting to stay on semi-solid ground so she wouldn't fall in.

Her attempt failed.

The ground crumbled the moment she put weight on it, and she watched the ground rush toward her face. Miranda managed to twist so she'd land at least partially on her bag in the hopes that it would break her fall somewhat. The scream that escaped her lips was lost in the wind the moment they touched. She hit the ground and stars flew.

Actually, they were petals. Miranda hacked out a cough and sat up. She was alive, though winded, and in a bed of golden flowers. She peered out into the darkness, her eyes adjusting rather quickly to reveal a doorway. Miranda quickly skimmed through her bag to ascertain everything's situation. The water bottles, surprisingly, hadn't broken and the sandwich was only a little squashed. Her clothes were fine, the journal and sketchbook weren't torn, and her phone remained functional.

Well, maybe not. For some reason it said the date was a full week earlier than what she knew it was and the time was mid-evening. She decided not to question it... maybe technology reacted weirdly to the barrier? She didn't have time to think further when she heard voices drifting from the doorway.

"You hear something, partner?" one asked, cruel and spiteful and almost _inhuman._

"Even if I did, I wouldn't tell you," another voice, brokenhearted and ethereal, retorted.

"Fine. I'm too mad at you. We were _so. Damn. CLOSE. But then you RUINED it!_" the first voice grumbled. "We almost HAD that stupid comedian!"

"I couldn't let you kill Asriel again!" the second voice lashed. "Because you would have! You just GAVE UP the happy ending! They were free! Happy! _SAFE!_ And YOU ruined it!"

"Hm. It seems you've changed your opinion since the _other_ run, eh?" the first voice mocked. Miranda's heart pounded and she wiped the sweat off her forehead. Her breathing grew tense and quick.

"...Shut up," the second voice said. "You and I both know that I'd lost my damn sanity at that point after seeing you kill Mom _and_ Asriel _and_ Dad."

Miranda's insightful analysis process consisted of _What the hell what the hell what the hell!?_

"You shut up. I hear _her_ coming," the first voice muttered. As if on cue, a new voice appeared.

"Ah, poor child! Do not worry, young one. I am Toriel, guardian of the RUINS. Are you alright?" it asked.

Miranda barely had time to process the fact that Toriel said "child" and not "children" when she heard the first voice take on a sweet, timid appearance. "Y-Yes, M-Miss Toriel. Just... shaken. Where... where am I?" it asked. Miranda's mind spun as she tried to puzzle this out. She only barely managed to understand the remainder of the conversation.

"Ah, you have just fallen into the Underground, home of monsterkind. But do not fear! I shall guide you through the catacombs to somewhere safe," Toriel explained.

Miranda gave a half-smirk. _Well, I managed to blunder into the correct place, at least,_ she thought.

She waited a few painful minutes to be certain they were gone before cautiously advancing through the door. Miranda bit her bottom lip as she tried to process the situation. The first voice... well, apparently they were a murderer, if the second one was to be believed. Miranda was experiencing a largely foreign emotion: pure, raw _fear._

Miranda never really got _scared._ She loved horror movies, and even when Lyren had left she was more worried than filled with fear. But this... Miranda was beginning to wish she'd just stayed home and followed Lyren's request.

And then a golden flower popped up from the ground in front of her. Miranda froze as she watched it turn.

"Huh. They actually didn't wait for me?" _it _asked.

Miranda squeaked. _There is no way in hell that audible words came from that flower nope I have to be-_

The flower turned to Miranda. The thing had eyes and a mouth. Miranda began breathing quickly and heavily before she finally succumbed to her confusion and passed out.

* * *

"Shit," Flowey muttered under his breath. He gazed at the human that had collapsed and passed out upon seeing him. _Their SOUL would be so easy to just... take,_ he thought. _But... Why do I not want to? I almost... feel bad?_ he realized and shook his bud, startled at the possibility he was feeling _real_ emotion. And something about this human... reminded him of Chara. He could sense their SOUL, one filled with resolve and kindness. Just like Chara always was. _Like Frisk used to be..._ He shook again. _Who's Frisk?_ he asked himself before cursing inwardly. It was fine to talk to yourself. Not fine to be confused by yourself.

Flowey muttered to himself and dug into the ground to find Toriel. The human would run into her anyway whenever they woke up, so might as well expedite the process. Assuming the other one didn't kill Toriel first, of course. He had a very distinct feeling the genocide run they abandoned for some reason wasn't over yet. _Oh boy, is this gonna be fun!_ he chuckled to himself as he popped up in front of Toriel.

"Hello, Mo-Miss Toriel?" he asked, almost betraying his true identity.

"Ah, I do not believe I know you," she said, intrigued.

"It doesn't really matter," he muttered. "It's just, there's a human at the entrance to the RUINS who just fell. I might've accidentally scared them because they passed out."

"Oh, dear," Toriel mumbled. "Thank you for telling me, Mister...?"

"Flowey. Flowey the Flower!" he said.

"Hm... sounds like a name Asgore might give," she muttered before turning around. "My child, it seems that another human has fallen. I must go and ensure they are okay. Do you think you can stay here for a bit?"

"Sure," the kid muttered. They walked over to the wall and sat down. When Toriel left, they started digging the dust from their fingernails with the stick. "So. Mind explaining what's going on, _Asriel?_" they asked Flowey.

"Huh. I don't remember telling you my name," Flowey muttered.

"I read the signs in Waterfall, and you told me your story in the last run in New Home," they explained offhandedly. "Not too hard to put together."

"Why'd ya reset, buddy?" Flowey asked with a chuckle.

"Stupid comedian drained all my HP items. Easier to let him kill me and RESET so I could plan ahead rather than refighting him twenty times to learn his patterns," they lied, examining their finally cleaned hands. "Dunno why my hands were so dusty, though. Happened on a couple of the more kill-heavy neutral runs after the RESET. The ones where Papyrus died especially."

"Well, some things carry over between timelines," Flowey pointed out with what counted for him as a half-shrug. "Though this new human is... well, new. Black hair, tan skin, leather satchel. You ever see 'em?" he asked.

The genocidal human shook their head. "Nah. Probably a fluctuation of some kind in the timeline, if I had to guess. You'd know more about that than me. I wonder how much EXP killing a human gives..." they pondered.

"Probably doesn't matter until you're at least past the captain. Maybe not even until you get the pan," Flowey guessed. "I don't remember how much EXP I got from killing you, but it was no small amount."

Toriel interrupted their conversation by walking in cradling the passed-out human. "Poor child. They must have been so scared at the sight of a monster that their body just shut down," she murmured. "Come. I was going to surprise you with something, but, ah... extenuating circumstances have arisen, wouldn't you agree?" she asked.

"Yeah, I guess," the genocidal human said, retaking their timid guise.

* * *

Chara floated along behind Frisk as Toriel led them through the RUINS. They watched the sleeping human their mom was carrying curiously. A sign... a chance. _Something new._ Deep in whatever remained of their SOUL, Chara had a hope that this new human just might put a stop to the genocide. They didn't expect anything since the human was, well, _human,_ but... they couldn't quite squash that tiny burning hope.

Then Chara realized that it was Flowey who'd let Toriel know about Miranda. They detected the faintest, slightest _hint_ of a remnant of Asriel in the emotion in Flowey's voice. Between him and the new human, Chara felt the first real hope they'd felt since the third or fourth True Reset, especially since things were already different because of the human's arrival. Toriel was already leading Frisk straight to Home, so they would be forced to go back through the RUINS to kill the monsters. Napstablook might not be in his napping spot when Frisk returned. The training dummy and the first Froggit were gone, but... there was a chance that Frisk wouldn't be at a full five LV when they inevitably left. That might weaken them enough to not be able to pass Undyne without perfect dodging. Since the world was reset before Frisk's determination erased it, Sans might remember something, or Alphys might have a sense of deja vu and improve Mettaton's defenses so he could put up an actual fight when he went NEO. There was _hope._ There was a _chance,_ and Chara clung to it. They began humming the song from Asriel's memorial statue, too softly for anyone else to hear, and a tiny smile graced their mouth. They listened to the water dripping in the RUINS, the crinkling of leaves whenever Frisk and Toriel walked over them, Toriel's lullaby for the new human.

When they reached Home, Chara drifted over and "sat" on the table while Toriel took the human to the children's room to what Chara gauged as disappointment from Frisk. They chuckled.

"So, how's it feel not to be the center of Mom's attention?" they quipped. Frisk pouted.

"Shut up, you dumb ghost," Frisk muttered.

Chara chuckled and laid on the floor. "How did Napstablook do that thing with the void?" they mumbled, closing their eyes to get some sleep. Not that they necessarily needed it, but it felt nice to.

* * *

Toriel hummed her lullaby to the human as she tucked them into Asriel's former bed, stroking their long black hair. She smiled softly, remembering the happy days with her family before painfully reminding herself that her children were gone, and Asgore...

_Asgore, _the memory struck her. _He'd been one of her only real friends when she was young. He never seemed to care that she was the princess, treating her like he would anyone. Their first actual date was a complete disaster. She had only barely managed to convince her father that she didn't need a bodyguard, since she could handle herself in a fight and Asgore was one of the strongest monsters in the kingdom. And then the waiter accidentally spilled Asgore's soup on his nice sweater and dropped Toriel's tea. Eventually they just went to the arcade to meet with W.D. Gaster and Michael Halden. Asgore was surprisingly good at the Pac-Man game while Michael and Gaster fought for domination in Dance Dance Revolution. Toriel was unbeatable, though, in_ _Street Fighter. She had mastered the special inputs and best combos for her favorite fighters and wiped the floor with any fool who dared challenge her._

Her reminisce was interrupted by the human's bag falling off the bed and a silver book marked "2110" sliding out of it. Toriel picked it up to put it back in but the book slipped out of her large paws and fell open on the floor. She picked it up and would have closed it had her eye not caught a name.

King Darriel. Her _father._

Toriel couldn't help it. She examined the page and the ones right after and found a brief and surprisingly accurate history of the Human-Monster War written by Lyren Halden. The last human to fall along with her boyfriend Jeremiah. Toriel found a note addressed to someone named "Miranda" telling her not to follow Lyren's example and live her life happy. Toriel gazed at the human on the bed next to her and smiled, understanding instantly. She planted a tiny, gentle kiss on Miranda's cheek and laid the journal next to her head. She walked out to tend to the other child, who she found sitting on the steps to the RUINS door. She quickly grabbed a blanket from the linen closet and offered them her reading chair. They semi-begrudgingly accepted, to Toriel's surprise. They had seemed so sweet on the way to Home but she decided to chalk it up to being tired.

Toriel still couldn't help touching her side with a wince, like there was an injury there, as she felt a chill run up her back when they made eye contact.

* * *

_It doesn't make sense,_ Frisk thought later as they sat tucked into Toriel's reading chair while Toriel baked a butterscotch-cinnamon pie. Chara lay peacefully on the floor, sleeping for some reason. _There was never another human. Not on any of the pacifist runs or the neutral runs or even the genocide and a half I've done._ Thinking about the unfinished genocide brought a sour taste to Frisk's mouth. _And then Chara had to go and force me to accept Sans's offer of "mercy" and then RESET! That damn idiot. And then this dumb new human has messed up my_ _flow,_ they inwardly groaned._ I'll have to make up an excuse for going to play and it's going to take me extra time to actually do it because of how damn clingy Toriel is._ They brought up their stats with a frown. A measly LV 2, with only the EXP from the first Froggit in their SOUL. Frisk grumbled and buried their face in the pillow. Maybe they'd wake up back in the flowers and find out they just went to sleep after the RESET completed. They knew it was highly improbable but there was a chance. Somehow, sleep came quickly for them.

When Frisk woke up, they were greeted by a slice of pie at their feet and a still-asleep Chara. They sighed and slipped the pie into their inventory for their upcoming fight with Sans. Toriel wasn't anywhere to be seen, but Frisk heard the echoes of her talking and laughing. _Sans must have decided to check on her,_ Frisk thought idly. They crawled out from the chair and stretched with a yawn, slipping out to grab the toy knife.

It wasn't there. In its place was a note written in a sloppy font that said "no pointy things for you. or defensive items, brat. maybe i'll wear that ribbon of yours." Frisk swore and included a rather detailed description of what they'd do to Sans when they got to him and his brother. Toriel's voice interrupted their fuming. They crumpled up the letter and shoved it in their pocket before hurrying out.

"Ah, there you are, my child. I was looking for you," Toriel said when she saw them. "Were you just exploring?" she asked. Frisk nodded. "That is alright. You may play out here for a while. I will call you when it is time for lunch."

Frisk mumbled something resembling an agreement before Toriel went back inside to care for the other human. Then a thought struck Frisk. _Maybe that other human could help me. I've just gotta tell them enough about the resets for them to know I have experience but not so much that they know I ever gave the monsters a "happy ending." And also lie about the nature of the monsters, but that'll be easy._

Frisk decided to wait until lunch. It was hard to lie on an empty stomach, and they were _not_ going to waste the pie. Until then... Frisk had some unfinished business in the RUINS. They whipped out their stick and grinned. The Genocide Route had just begun.


	4. Chapter Three: LOVE Denied RW

Miranda woke up with a start. Her head spun as she took her bearings. She was lying on a cozy bed in a homey room. Her satchel sat at the end of the bed and Lyren's journal lay on her left side. On her right was a smiling white creature in a purple dress.

"Good morning, my child," she murmured. "Are you feeling alright?" Miranda nodded. "That is good. My name is Toriel. I am the guardian and caretaker of the RUINS we are in." Miranda gazed at the room around.

"This room... doesn't seem very ruined," she decided. Toriel chuckled.

"No, I suppose not," Toriel agreed. "We are in an area called 'Home,' which is indeed considerably less ruined than the rest of the... well, RUINS."

Miranda suddenly made a connection she'd missed the first time she heard the name. "Wait, you're Toriel? Like... the queen of monsters during the Human-Monster War?"

Toriel looked highly uncomfortable. "Ah... Well, yes, like that. But... I gave up my throne many years ago. I accidentally opened the journal and noticed that it belongs to Lyren Halden?"

Miranda nodded, deciding, just for a moment, to ignore the slight invasion of privacy. "She's my sister. Have... have you met her?" Miranda asked hopefully.

Tears filled Toriel's eyes. "Yes... but... she left shortly after I brought her here. It has been five years, so... I doubt she has escaped death this long. Not after _he_ declared war on humanity and betrayed my child's memory," she muttered.

"Asgore? Your husband?" Miranda guessed. "Er, well, he's probably your ex-husband now."

Toriel frowned. "It has been a long time since I have heard anyone mention that name other than myself. But... yes. I do not want to talk about it, if that is alright with you."

Miranda nodded. "Okay, Mom," she said. Toriel had the desired reaction of surprise. "Well, you called me, and I quote, 'my child,' and the way you teared up about Lyren... you got attached to her, didn't you?"

Toriel nodded. "Yes... I... I did adopt her. Not her boyfriend, but I did adopt Lyren."

"Well, the point is, she _is_ my sister. Was? I dunno," Miranda frowned. Suddenly, a gurgling from the depths of her gut rumbled through her stomach.

"Oh, you must be starving. Have a slice of pie," Toriel offered, picking up a plate from the nightstand. The plate had a delicious-looking slice of pie, the scent of which made Miranda's mouth water. She had to force her tongue not to come out and lick her lips. "It is a slice of butterscotch-cinnamon pie," she offered.

Miranda took it and immediately set it aside. "I'll save that for dessert," she explained, grabbing the sandwich she'd made from her bag and biting into it. Toriel nodded.

"If you need me, just call. Here, I will give you this cell phone so you can-"

"I have one, actually," Miranda said, slipping her own out. "What's your phone number?"

Toriel told Miranda her number and Miranda called Toriel so the monster could add Miranda's number to her contacts. Miranda continued with her lunch while Toriel went out to find the other human.

Miranda only remembered the voices from the beginning of the Underground after Toriel was gone.

* * *

Frisk frowned. They had only found two Froggits and a Loox in the entire time since they had last seen Toriel, none of them raising their LV above 3. They heard footsteps right behind them and whipped their head around. They saw Sans relaxing against the wall and they sputtered, mouth agape.

"What the _hell_ are you doing here?" they demanded. "How did you even _get in_ here?"

"took a shortcut," he chuckled. "just wanted to check up on my _little buddy._"

"You took a shortcut. Into a securely locked area," Frisk muttered in disbelief.

"c'mon, kid," Sans chuckled, his grin never leaving his face. "you know i've got more tricks up my sleeve than i let on," he pointed out before frowning. "which is why i don't get why you fell for my trick. and then reset. and then started killing again. what's the deal with that?"

Frisk crossed their arms. "Let's just say I wasn't given a choice in the matter."

"huh. welp, the old lady's comin'. see ya in snowdin, brat," Sans grinned ruefully before walking down the hall toward Home and vanishing. Frisk quickly stuffed the dusty end of the stick in their pocket as Toriel entered.

"Ah, there you are, child. Come, I have prepared lunch for you at home," Toriel explained, offering her hand.

Frisk reluctantly took it and Toriel let them to Home, where they had a peanut butter and banana sandwich Toriel made them before she settled into a reading chair. The other human stiffly walked into the room from the bedroom and smiled at Toriel.

"It is good to see you up, my child," Toriel noted warmly. The human suddenly cringed and gripped their leg.

"Leg cramp," the human squeaked. Toriel cringed in sympathy.

Frisk sized up their potential new partner. Likely a teenager, with straight, medium-length black hair and dark hazel eyes. Only barely taller than Frisk and wearing a slightly dirty gray shirt with Zelda from the old _Breath of the Wild_ game printed on its front and a pair of blue leggings and dirty white sneakers. They gazed at Frisk and waved hesitantly.

"Hello," Frisk replied with a nod. Had they been slightly more attentive, they would have understood that the glint in the human's eyes was fear. Had they been slightly less attentive, they would have dismissed the glint entirely. "You okay?" they asked.

The other human cleared their throat and nodded. "Sorry, just, um... didn't expect to see another human here," they said. Frisk raised an eyebrow and shrugged.

"Well, ta-da!" Frisk chuckled, spreading their arms.

"I'm, um, Miranda. What's your name?" Miranda asked.

"...It doesn't really matter," Frisk mumbled.

"I'm gonna call you Goat Junior then," Miranda decided. "Unless one of you has a problem with that," she mused.

"I do not," Toriel chuckled, and Frisk just shrugged. Chara frowned from their place on the table and Frisk could have sworn Miranda's eyes moved to Chara's position.

"Miss Toriel, I'm going to go out and play," Frisk sighed, pushing away from the table and brushing the crumbs off.

"Very well, child," Toriel nodded. "I will call you in later so we might begin discussing a school curriculum for you, if you like."

"...Sure," Frisk nodded hesitantly before running out.

"See ya later, Goat Junior," Miranda chuckled to Chara's amusement.

* * *

If Miranda was being honest, it was the half-transparent human ghost kid that had initially freaked her out more than Goat Junior until she placed the voice. After Toriel had left, Miranda had managed to reason that Toriel would probably assume she dreamed the voices at the entrance, and there was a possibility she had. But just to be safe...

"Mom, I'm gonna go out with them, okay?" she said to Toriel.

"No worries, my child. Have fun," Toriel encouraged.

"See you in a bit, and I'll call you if I need you," Miranda promised. Toriel nodded with a smile. Miranda wandered out, passively admiring the ruined city surrounding her as she wandered the corridors.

Suddenly, though, she came up to Goat Junior, flanked by the ghost person and raising a stick to attack a frog monster. Miranda cleared her throat before GJ could attack, causing them to shove the stick in their pocket and turn around.

"I... can explain," GJ promised. Miranda raised an eyebrow and made a gesture to the frog monster to get away, which it promptly replied to by dashing out of the room.

"You had better have a really good one," Miranda muttered. "Why were you attacking that monster?"

"Okay, let's talk somewhere more private, and-" GJ was cut off by Miranda.

"No, if it's a good reason you can tell me about it _here,_" Miranda demanded.

GJ narrowed their eyes and frowned. The ghost looked thoroughly amused at the situation. Miranda stared directly at the ghost while GJ thought up an explanation.

"Okay, so..." GJ trailed off. "Well, what do you know about the monsters?" they deflected.

"Humans declared war on them some number of centuries ago and they were stuck underground by a barrier that requires seven human souls to break," Miranda replied. "But how does that relate to your attempt to attack that monster?"

_It doesn't,_ the ghost child lightly scoffed. _They're just trying to get you on their side with some fake sob story about how they lost their sibling to the monsters or if they're really desperate they'll reveal just enough about-_

"Shut. Up," GJ muttered.

"No, please, keep talking," Miranda said. "I'd love to hear what you're going to reveal."

GJ froze. "You... heard that?"

"No," Miranda continued stubbornly.

GJ glared. "Fine. This... isn't the first time I've met Toriel. Or been through the Ruins. Well, sort of. I've been through this sort of... time loop and it ends whenever I reach the end of the Underground and resets me back to the moment I fell," they explained

The ghost rolled their eyes but didn't say anything.

"Okay... What's causing the time loop?" Miranda asked.

"Uh... I don't know. But I can still remember, even though almost nobody else does, and I've learned that the only way for a human to escape is by strengthening their soul, and the only way to do that is by absorbing a monster soul," GJ explained. "But there are only two souls that last long enough to absorb, Toriel's soul and the monster king's soul, and I need to kill one of them before I can take their soul, and I'm trying to... toughen myself by killing smaller monsters before I go for the king."

After a pause, Miranda began chuckling. "It's funny," she eventually said. "I always thought that there was a kernel of good in any person... that anyone could do something good with their life. I was testing that belief... and you failed."

"I was telling the truth!" GJ protested. "Was my explanation not good enough?"

"It's not that," Miranda continued. "It doesn't matter if you were telling the truth or not, because you're a _sick__, twisted_ excuse for a human being. You tried to justify _murder._"

"Fffffff..." GJ trailed off. "Welp, I guess ya caught me. Congratulations! What are you going to do about it?"

Miranda snorted. "I don't need to do anything. Mom'll take care of that."

The ghost turned around and suddenly grinned.

"Toriel? She has literally _never_ even reprimanded me. What would change that, even if you told her?" GJ asked.

"Maybe the fact that she's been here since you admitted to wanting to kill monsters," Miranda chuckled.

GJ turned around and suddenly went pale as Toriel's disapproving glare met their eyes.

"Do not expect to be allowed to leave, child of man," Toriel said bitterly. "And I will keep an eye on you. Let us return to the house," she commanded.

GJ, which Miranda decided would now stand for Genocidal Jerk, grumbled and walked with Toriel, hate burning in their eyes. The ghost looked decidedly optimistic as they gazed at Miranda before vanishing.

* * *

Flowey stared in what he could only describe as awe at what had just transpired. Toriel... was upset... with the human. _Before they killed her._ He shot a friendliness pellet at himself to make sure he was awake before laughing to himself.

"Ya know, Azzy," he mumbled to himself, "maybe ya didn't make a terrible choice keeping that human alive."

* * *

HAPPY UNDERTALE 5TH ANNIVERSARY GUYS WOO HAVE A CHAPTER


	5. Chapter Four: Filled With DETERMINATION

About as soon as he'd appeared, Sans left, and Miranda placed a flower she'd found in her bag on the grave before turning toward the forest and heading off through the snow. Quickly she wished she'd brought a sweater. She began rambling to herself. "But, you know, who'd wear a sweater in summer? 'Cause, you know, I couldn't have had some sort of convenient premonition that I might be somewhere cold without being able to prepare beforehand, like how it so often happens in fiction, which _my life sure feels like right about now!_" Miranda rubbed her arms for a quick burst of warmth and kept walking forward, swinging her arms to keep the blood flowing as she walked through the forest. She crossed a bridge with what she assumed was supposed to be a fence to block anyone from getting through, but the bars were far too wide to be remotely effective.

Soon after the bridge came a building that she assumed to be a sentry station with a lamp in front of it. Miranda stopped for a moment to consider checking the sentry station before deciding to just go with it. Just to be safe, she held her shovel out defensively as she walked toward the station. Inside she found a grand total of nothing useful- just a couple filled-out crosswords and a staggering amount of empty condiment bottles. Well, one bottle of ketchup hadn't been opened, unless they had a way to fuse the seal back together. Miranda felt bad about it, but she was starting to get really hungry, so she put her shovel back in its rest, opened the bottle of ketchup, and just downed it.

That bottle was the best darn ketchup she'd tasted in her life. She could have attributed it to a different recipe but she was certain it was just because she was so hungry. After she finished the bottle, she put it back among the bottles already there and walked out, ready to continue her walk. And of course Sans was there, staring at her with a very displeased expression on his face.

"That was your ketchup, wasn't it?" Miranda sighed.

"yup."

"What time is it?"

"random question, but it's..." Sans checked his phone. "ten in the morning."

"So, it's been... almost a full day since I last ate, actually. I'm sorry, I'll get you another one to replace it, but I wasn't sure I could go on much longer without something."

He pondered for a moment. "nah, it's fine. i've got plenty more at home, and you haven't eaten since, well... lunch yesterday, i assume?"

"Yeah, that was the last time I ate."

"i guess that's a good enough reason for me. i know i couldn't go that long without food. i hope it was at least good?"

"Best ketchup I've ever had," Miranda nodded. "So... about that other human. Where exactly is she?"

"oh, up ahead, on her way to meet my brother, his name's papyrus."

"...Let me get this straight. You left a human who killed every monster who could die back in that labyrinth place-"

"you mean the ruins?"

"I guess that's what it's called. But you left her, you know, on her way to your own brother."

Sans's eyes pretty much disappeared, leaving only the sockets. "you're right i'm an absolute idiot i'm gonna go check on them bye." He vanished, leaving only the smell of ketchup and hot dogs.

"Okay... I'll just keep walking then." Miranda kept a brisk pace through the rest of the path until she reached a small clearing. There was a pile of dust awaiting her there. The girl still hadn't changed even after Toriel's death. Miranda swung her shovel back into her hands- she was getting good at it, which would have been far more depressing if all of them had been for burials, of which, thankfully, this was only the second. She dug a grave and carefully scooped the dust into it, covering it back up with snow and dirt and placing a single light blue feather on top, assuming that it belonged to whoever had died here and simply hadn't turned to dust like the rest of the monster. As she smoothed the dirt and snow over the grave, she whispered, "May you be given the peace you deserve, in whatever measure it may be." It brought a sickening feeling thinking of how many times she'd had to say that. Then she saw another pile, with a fancy hat sitting beside it. She buried it, placed the hat on top, and whispered her prayer-last wish-line-whateveritshouldbecalled again, then saw yet another pile with a pair of sunglasses. She repeated her ritual? Burial ceremony? She really wasn't sure and she hated that she'd actually had to try to come up with a name for it. She repeated it, six more times. _What in the name of the Archangel is wrong with this kid?_ She thought hard, but had no answer, and followed the footprints of the girl as she walked on, the tears that couldn't come still trying to form in her eyes, leading to a piercing sting. As she resolved to stop the human at the first opportunity, an emerald glimmer shone in her eyes, though she wasn't aware of it.

Miranda trudged on, finding a guard station with a very happy dog's face carved into the top and a sign reading "Doggo." A pile of dust with a tank top and two knives around it lay in front of the station, which Miranda assumed to be the remains of whoever manned- monstered?- this station, probably Doggo. She buried the dust in the tank top and covered it before sticking the knives in the dirt in an "X" formation. Then, using her shovel as a lever, she pried the sign off the wall of the station and placed it on the grave, gently leaning it against the knives. Miranda stood and brushed the snow off her pants, after which she whispered her line, put her shovel in its resting place, and walked forward. She slipped on some ice on her way down the path, but picked herself up. Then she came to a small clearing. The girl was shoving her way by Sans and a taller skeleton with a red scarf, who Miranda guessed was Sans's brother Papyrus. Papyrus watched the killer with disappointment.

"Sans, why couldn't we get a human who likes puzzles?" Papyrus moaned, clearly upset.

Miranda decided to speak up. "Well, I mean... I like puzzles."

"Hm?" Papyrus turned to look at Miranda and his face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Wowie! Another human! Sans, does this mean I'll be doubly popular?"

"i mean... you'd have to capture both of them. but maybe. we only need one of their souls, though, so i don't really know."

"Fair point, brother." Papyrus cleared his throat. "HUMAN! YOU SHALL NOT PASS THE GREAT PAPYRUS! FOR I, PAPYRUS, WILL STOP YOU! AND CAPTURE YOU!"

"It would be an honor to be captured by someone as great as you are!" Miranda cracked a smile. "I heard about you before I met you!"

"R... Really? A human... who knows who I am? Sans, did you hear that? I'm popular among at least a few humans!" Was Papyrus... blushing? _Yep, definitely blushing. Somehow. Even though he doesn't have any blood vessels whatsoever. You know what I'd rather not know how he's doing that in the first place so I'll just act like it's completely totally 100 percent normal and not ask any questions I guess._

"bro, haven't i always told you how cool you are? why are you surprised?" Sans winked at Miranda and she winked back.

"Ahem! Anyway! Human! Your first challenge shall be the INVISIBLE ELECTRICITY MAZE! If you stray from the path, this orb shall administer a hearty zap! To you!" He held out a small, blue, glassy object. Miranda scanned the clearing for any sign of a way through and her eyes picked up a very faint turquoise glow that seemed to make a path. She took a deep breath and carefully navigated the path she saw, which seemed more like a thread. The whole thing reminded her of the old Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, except her Minotaur was a skeleton with a childlike sort of dashing who didn't seem to have any plans to harm her and she had no plans to harm him. She got to the end without any trouble, thankfully, and Papyrus looked impressed. "Well done, human! And you didn't even need my help! Which is good, because I realized that I forgot to give you the orb, which would have zapped me. But I shall now deactivate the puzzle so that no one gets zapped!"

As he pressed a few buttons to deactivate the maze, Miranda asked, "So what's the next puzzle? A jigsaw? Maybe a combination lock? Or some pun-omenal riddles?" Sans eyes lit up and his grin spread further while Papyrus's eye twitched.

"Sans."

"yeah, bro?"

"Did you tell the human any of your jokes?"

"nah, she told me one though. it was pretty good, actually."

Miranda figured she'd clarify. "When he introduced himself, I asked if he meant comic or serif."

"That's... Actually pretty good, human! I had no idea humans could have such a good sense of humor!" Papyrus finished messing with the buttons. "But... Apparently they also like puns, which is a less than great tribute to the sense of humor of humans."

Miranda shrugged. "Not all of us do, but if you don't like puns then I'll refrain from using them around you."

"That would be nice, human." Papyrus turned and jogged down the path. "NYEH HEH HEH! I'VE FOUND AN AMAZING HUMAN!" Miranda began to follow him, but Sans stopped her.

"hey... thanks for doing that, miranda. it really made his day to see someone like you."

"He seems so... naive. My big sister instincts just make me want to protect him and make him happy, you know?"

"yeah, i definitely know the feeling. but it makes me really happy knowing my little bro's happy."

"Wait, so you're the older brother?"

"yup. don't worry, i get that question a lot."

"I can imagine why," Miranda giggled. "Anyway, I'm gonna head over to the next puzzle. You mind keeping an eye out for the other human? Make sure they don't hurt Papyrus before I can catch up with him?"

"no problem. i should also probably put out an evacuation warning for the town, but i'll make sure they know you're not the dangerous one." And in a flash, Sans was gone. Miranda took a moment to wait, and breathe, and to think about what had happened in the last twenty-four hours. And she was filled with something she couldn't describe. All she could think of to call it was DETERMINATION to help any monster she could.

Quick author's note: So, the next chapter will probably come really quickly because this was actually only a part of a full chapter, but it started feeling like a wall of text, so I decided to split it into two parts and label each as a separate chapter. (In case you're curious about how long it was getting, it ended up around a dozen pages on Google Docs in 12pt Times New Roman and approaching 3,000 words before I decided to split it up)


	6. Chapter Five: FURY Uncontained

Minor disclaimer for the chapter: Some violent action and cinnamon rolling of everyone's favorite spaghetti skeleton

Miranda, now inspired by her new friend, moved forward with renewed vigor. She came to a fork in the path, one leading to a small cliff with more guard stations and the other leading past what seemed to be some sort of mini golf course. She headed toward the guard stations and collected the signs- one labeled "Dogamy" and the other "Dogaressa." Thankfully, there wasn't any dust... yet. Miranda slipped the signs in her bag and went down the other path. It led to Papyrus and Sans, standing near a piece of paper on the ground.

"Ah, the second human arrives! Er, what should I call you?" Papyrus asked.

"Miranda. Or just Mira. I don't really care which," she shrugged, rubbing her arms.

"Alright, Human-Miranda! This puzzle was designed by my brother Sans! It's, um... Sans, where's the puzzle again?"

"it's that piece of paper. the one on the ground," Sans pointed.

Miranda picked it up and examined it. "Oh, it's a word search! Does anyone have a pen or pencil? And maybe something to bear down on?"

"uh... nope. how about you, paps?"

"I don't. See, Sans? This is what happens when you don't properly plan for puzzles!"

Miranda saw the perfect opportunity to make a joke. "Was that astoundingly announced alliteration aforethought?" Miranda grinned.

Papyrus couldn't help but laugh. "Nyeh heh heh heh heh! No, Human-Mira, but it was efficiently and expertly executed. But I've noticed you keep rubbing your arms. Are you cold, perhaps?" He looked concerned.

"Maybe a little," Miranda admitted.

"Well, here, take my extra scarf." He handed her a red scarf nearly identical to his own. She took it and wrapped it around her face below the bridge of her nose to prevent frostbite and stuck her arms inside her shirt to protect them.

"Much better!" she slipped her arm out momentarily to give him a thumbs-up. He ran off, presumably to the next puzzle, and Sans teleported away- at least, Miranda assumed he was teleporting. She was again alone. She passed a table with a plate of frozen spaghetti near a microwave with no way to power itself. Disappointing. As she walked on, she realized she hadn't seen any piles of dust since before she met Papyrus.

Soon that was changed as she saw the girl fighting two axe-wielding dogs in armor. She'd changed from a knife to a leather glove and had a red soul out, which was dodging the dogs' attacks pretty well. _Red soul... which trait was that?_ Miranda strangely couldn't remember. She was interrupted from racking her brain by the death of one of the dogs. Its axe fell into the snow.

"Dogaressa, I'm sorry..." he whispered as he faded to dust.

"Dogamy!" the other cried. She glared at the killer. "Misery awaits you," she said coldly, baring her teeth in a snarl and swinging her axe. The girl smirked and pummeled Dogaressa to death when she paused to breathe. "No... Dogamy, I... failed you..." she whimpered before turning to dust. The girl began walking on.

Miranda finally was able to cry. These two... Siblings? Lovers? It didn't matter to the other human, obviously, but Miranda would make sure they stayed together in death. She dug two graves, side by side, and placed Dogamy's dust in one and Dogaressa's dust in the other. Then she placed the signs she'd gotten from their guard stations on each dog monster's respective grave and chopped the axes into the ground, creating a shape similar to a heart in the empty space between the handles and blades of the axes. She whispered a new variation on her line that she'd come up with in the time it took to make the graves. "Whatever peace you're given, whatever peace you deserve to be given, I pray that you're together in it." She took up her shovel and ran- she was done walking and hoping the human would get tired. It was time to really take up the chase. She passed a few already-deactivated puzzles until she got to Papyrus and Sans again. There was a monochrome tile bridge between her and the skeleton brothers.

"Ah, Miranda! You're here! I... I have a question."

"Sure, what is it?"

"Um... Why doesn't the other human seem to like puzzles when you quite clearly do?"

"Because she's a terrible person." Miranda answered flatly. "So, what's this puzzle?"

"Oh! This is a colored tile puzzle designed by the Royal Scientist, the great Dr. Alphys! Once I activate this machine, a random combination will appear! I should explain what each colored tile means." Papyrus grabbed a piece of paper and began to read off of it. "Red tiles are impassable! You cannot walk on them! Yellow tiles are electric! They will electrocute you! Green tiles are alarm tiles! If you step on them, you will have to fight a monster!" _Ain't many monsters around to fight,_ Miranda reflected somberly. "Orange tiles are orange-scented. They will make you smell delicious! Blue tiles are water tiles. Swim through if you like, but if you smell like oranges, the pirahnas in the water will bite you. Also, if a blue tile is next to a yellow tile, the water will also zap you! Purple tiles are slippery! You will slide to the next tile! However, the slippery soap smells like lemons! Which the pirahnas do not like! Purple and blue are okay! Finally, pink tiles. They don't do anything. Step on them all you like. Do you understand, human?"

"I... I think so?" Miranda was still in the middle of processing this information.

"Well, if you understand, I shall flip this switch to begin the puzzle!" He flipped a lever, and the tile floor lit up with color and began to change color, quickly making Miranda dizzy. She looked away from the dazzling light show until she heard a little "ding!" She looked back to find the floor just a straight pink walkway bordered by red. Papyrus looked at it slightly stunned. He dropped the paper and just walked away. "I'm gonna... go check on the other human."

Miranda walked across with a fairly blank expression on her face. "Well... I didn't expect that."

"heh, neither did paps."

"That specific combination, though... That's got an absurdly low chance of happening, I'm sure. I mean I'm glad it did, but still..."

"i'm as surprised as you are, kiddo."

"I'm gonna go follow him, I guess."

"you do that. by the way, i did actually warn snowdin about her, so you probably won't be seeing any monsters. but, if you do, you should be fine assuming they trust me about you."

"Glad you let me know, Sans. And thank you, by the way."

"for what?"

"For trusting me. You could have assumed I was just like her, but... you gave me a chance. So, thanks."

"i'm just keeping a promise i made. it's why i haven't ended _her._ also i enjoy doing nothing. but you're welcome." Sans vanished.

Miranda rubbed her eyes. She was a lot more out of shape than she'd thought and she was already weary. But she couldn't give up now. She had to keep moving forward. But it would be so easy just to lie down for a moment, to forget, to dream away all the pain and suffering.

**DON'T. IF YOU FALL ASLEEP HERE... **_**YOU WON'T WAKE UP.**_

Miranda jumped at the sound of the shadowy voice. She looked around... nobody. Just shadows, snow, and above all, an unearthly stillness. Miranda staggered forward, not wanting to have to deal with an unknown specter. She passed a pile of slush and another guard station but this one didn't have a name, just a sign reading "AWARE OF DOG. pleas pet dog." She couldn't help but smile at it. She continued, finding a snow Papyrus and a lump with Sans's name written on it on her way after sliding off an icy path, until she found a clearing full of snow poffs and a doghouse.

Miranda remembered her grandmother saying something about snow poffs bringing good luck if you looked through them and figured she could use a little good luck. She checked every poff and her PERSEVERANCE awarded her thirty gold coins marked with a Roman numeral-style "I" and a winged symbol she remembered seeing in the Ruins, the latter of which she decided was probably the symbol of the Underground, and so she figured this was probably thirty units of... well, whatever the monsters called their currency. She put it all in her bag so if anyone was selling winter clothing and was stupid or scared enough to not evacuate she might be able to buy a coat. Or maybe a glass of hot cocoa. Either would be good. At the end of the clearing, just before a bridge, was a pile of dust. She stopped, buried it, and stuck the dog-faced spear- _Uh... okay then._\- in the ground at the head of the grave. The bridge led into a cozy-looking little town with a banner reading "Welcome to Snowdin." It was empty of monsters.

Miranda walked into the town, coming up to a few buildings with a box in front of them. Nothing in the box except a small dusty plastic knife. The same one the girl had used to kill Toriel. Miranda entered the shop- obvious by the sign saying "SHOP." It was empty save for stock- so many cinnamon buns and double popsicles- and a note on the counter saying, "Please don't hurt my family." Miranda gasped as she understood. The owner had evactuated, and wasn't sure if her family would be able to escape before the killer came. Miranda looked around for a list of prices- the cinnamon buns were 25 gold, and the popsicles, called Biscicles, were 15 each. Miranda grabbed a cinnamon bun and took the necessary gold out of her bag, laying it on the counter. But she could do something more. She grabbed a blank piece of paper and a pencil and wrote the owner a note in case he or she came back.

"To the owner:

I'm the second of two humans to fall underground. But I'm not anything like the other one (at least I hope I'm not). I've not killed a single monster, but buried the remains of every one I've come across. The gold is for a cinnamon bun I took, and I'm sorry I couldn't stop the other human... I pray that she hasn't hurt your family.

"Yours, Miranda"

She set down the pencil and sighed, hoping the owner wasn't dead so she'd have a chance to read the note. She left, nibbling on the delicious warm cinnamon bun as she peered in the windows of the inn to make sure there wasn't anybody in danger, repeating this for the library- the sign was misspelled, which Miranda found ironic- and a place called "Grillby's," which she guessed to be a restaurant. Nobody, which meant either the other human had killed them all, or they'd successfully evacuated... Miranda desperately hoped the latter. She walked forward after ensuring there were no dust piles down the path west of the library, passing a house with two mailboxes- one, empty, labeled "The Great Papyrus," and the other, completely overflowing with mail, labeled "sans." The skeleton _wrote_ in Comic Sans, which drew a smile out of Miranda.

A blizzard began blowing in the east, but there was no other way the human could have gone, so Miranda forged ahead. She came upon the human facing away from her and toward Papyrus's voice, which was growing steadily weaker, but the snow let up for a moment and Miranda heard and saw in full clarity.

"You can do a little better! Even if you don't think you can! I... I promise..." Papyrus's head was all that remained

"NO!" Miranda's voice cracked with emotion as the human crushed Papyrus's skull. Miranda leapt forward and swung out her shovel, fire searing her soul and red filling her vision. She attacked the human, once, twice, ten times, and the human couldn't react. The other human fell to the ground, her skull bashed in and blood covering her body. Her dying look was mostly bafflement as her soul shattered. Miranda broke from her FURY and dropped her shovel, stunned and terrified at what she'd just done. _I'm capable of murder. I- I'm capable of murder... _Blood covered her shovel and she felt a dizzy rush, closing her eyes as the world fragmented around her. Miranda heard a star glimmering in the distance behind her. When she opened her eyes, she was... back at the tile puzzle? The colors were changing. Papyrus and Sans stood watching. Miranda shook her head. _What?_ The tiles faded to their pink and red. Papyrus looked like he was about to leave.

"W-Wait," Miranda squeaked. "P-Please don't go..."

"Human, it's flattering that you want me to stay with you! But I should really go check on the other human."

"Please, Papyrus..." Miranda's voice rang with desperation.

"Human, you will be fine! The Great Papyrus will return to you!"

"No, y-y-you won't..." Tears were forming now.

"You underestimate the faithfulness of Papyrus!"

"I CAN'T BEAR TO SEE HER KILL YOU AGAIN, PAPYRUS!" Miranda leapt forward and embraced him, her body wracked with sobs.

Author's note: Wow was it hard to figure out how to do the Papyrus scene because I kinda didn't want him to die but I didn't want to resort to martyrizing Miranda, but I'm happy with this. Other than that the next chapter will likely be a while because I have absolutely no clue how to introduce Undyne.


	7. Chapter Six: BRAVERY Eternal

"W-What?" Papyrus was stunned at Miranda's outburst. "Human... Did I hear you correctly?" She gasped for breath a few times before talking.

"I-I saw her... I saw her kill you... and all that was left was your skull and... you said you believed she could be a better person, even... th-though she k-killed you... and sh-she just c-c-cr-crushed your skull... and I j-just was so upset that I c-couldn't control myself and I killed... killed her... and now... I-I'm back here now, and I-I just... Please... don't leave… please, Papyrus!" she hugged Papyrus tighter and let the tears stream down her face.

"are you sure that's what you saw, kiddo?" Miranda was crying too much to respond to Sans so she just nodded. Papyrus embraced her gently.

"Don't worry, human. I'll stay right here with you until you think it's safe."

Miranda touched the scarf he'd given her and tried to phrase her next words. "Pap-Papyrus, I... I don't think you'll really be safe un-unless you evacuate with th-the rest of Snowdin."

"i actually agree with her, if it makes any difference," Sans spoke up. "just wondering, though... how'd you know snowdin was evacuating?"

"Before he died... you mentioned it but... I think the reason that we're back here now... something happened with time? Maybe? I don't know, but..."

"it doesn't really matter now i guess. let's go pack up, paps."

"A-Are you certain, Sans?"

"i'm as certain as i'm lazy."

"Well, that's pretty certain, alright. I guess, this is, well, um, goodbye, Miranda?"

She smiled slightly and looked up into his face. "On the surface, friends don't say 'Goodbye.'"

"We're friends?" Papyrus looked surprised.

"You're my friend, at least. I don't know if I'm yours or not."

"Well, I think you're my friend. And if I'm your friend and you're my friend, I suppose... We're both friends! Nyeh heh heh! So, um, as friends, what do humans say?"

"We say 'See you soon.' So see you soon, Papyrus."

"See you soon, Miranda." He gave her one last squeeze before letting go.

Miranda looked over at Sans. She walked over and hugged him. "See you soon, Sans."

He was startled. "uh, you too, kiddo," he said and gave her a quick hug back. He grabbed his brother's hand and they teleported away. Miranda breathed, raised her head, and walked forward, traversing the same territory she'd already passed, grabbing the gold from the same snow poff, reburying the dust pile, and heading into Snowdin again.

This time, though, she decided to buy two of the bisicles from the shop and forego the note. She also checked the inn a little more carefully, finding a stuffed bunny on the counter, likely a decoy meant to distract the other human. _Can't really refer to her as "the killer" anymore, not since I killed her..._ She walked through, but rapidly flickering light behind the Grillby's place made her stop. She cautiously walked over to find a monster made of fire in a vest with their leg pinned under a board and struggling to get free.

Miranda hurried over to help the monster. "Here, let me help you out." She grabbed the board and lifted it with all her strength, straining her muscles with the effort. "Hurry! I can't... hold it… for long!" The monster scrambled out and Miranda dropped the board, scattering snow and loose dirt. Miranda sneezed.

"Th-thank you..." he stood defensively.

Miranda understood why he seemed so scared. "Don't worry... I'm not the human who's been killing all the monsters."

"I suppose... you _do_ fit the description Sans gave of the non-dangerous human... Well, I'll trust you. Name's Grillby." He offered his hand in a handshake.

"I'm Miranda. But, uh, is that a good idea?"

"Oh! I'm sorry, I forget sometimes that most monsters aren't from Hotland. I can shake the hands of almost everyone there."

"It's fine. So you know Sans?"

"Yep. His father... saved my life a long time ago so he gets free food here."

"Well, it was nice to meet you, but I should go so _she_ doesn't come and hurt you... I'd feel terrible if I was the reason she hurt you."

"That's probably a good idea. Are you coming with the rest of the monsters from Snowdin?"

"That's probably a very _bad_ idea."

"...You're probably right, Miranda. See you around, perhaps?"

"Depends on if either of us dies or not," Miranda shrugged.

She turned and left, heading past the library and the house of the skeleton brothers. She reached the place where Papyrus had previously died and found the girl just... standing there.

"What's going on? Why isn't he here?" the other girl asked, likely talking to herself.

Miranda reviewed her options. She could quickly leave, stay where she was, or she could get the other human's attention. And in that moment, she put aside her fears and chose BRAVERY.

"You looking for Papyrus?" Miranda asked.

The other girl turned around and assumed a fighting stance and a cocky sneer on her face, wearing a bandana with abs drawn on it and also wearing a dusty leather glove on her left hand. Her expression immediately changed to disbelief. "You're- you're not supposed to- the timeline doesn't have- whaaaaaaa?"

"Well, you gonna answer my question?" Miranda's scarf flapped in the breeze.

"He's supposed to be here so I can kill him, yes."

"So you've done this before."

"Why does it matter to you, anyway? They're just monsters," the other girl scoffed.

"You sound like those people so awful and stupid I can't even think of an insult good enough to describe them that are the Holocaust deniers," Miranda glared.

"That was different."

"And how in the name of the Archangel is that so?"

"It just is. Because they _aren't_ human. I'm just finishing the job our ancestors started."

"Except the monsters fought an entire battle to avenge a human's death. My favorite bit of war history- the Battle of Vengeance." Miranda pointed out.

"Ah, yes, that traitor Michael. You can't seriously be proud of him."

"I mean, he and I both-"

"You know what, it really doesn't matter because **IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO DIE.**" The girl lunged at Miranda, whose soul appeared, but she simply stepped to the side, allowing the girl to faceplant. "You're not supposed to be allowed to dodge," she muttered, spitting the dirt out of her mouth.

"Suuuuuure, and you are?" Miranda raised an eyebrow while swinging out her shovel for an extra bit of defense. The girl tried again, but Miranda blocked with her shovel. The girl tried grabbing her shovel, but Miranda simply swung it around a couple times, though she didn't know where she got the strength, and the girl went flying away from Snowdin. Miranda pursued and found herself in a much warmer place than Snowdin with a lot of rivers and an empty sentry station similar to the one back in the forest that Sans operated. A young, yellow, armless monster with a yellow striped shirt watched the other girl, who was catching her breath and holding her hand out to empty air, with fascination.

"Yo... Did you see that girl? She just came flying through! It was soo cool!" the monster gushed. "Hey, are you two going out to see Undyne? I am too! She's SO COOL! I wanna be just like her!"

"Weirdo," the girl muttered.

"Hey, I've got an idea!" Miranda had to make sure the girl didn't hurt this kid. She looked at the monster and continued, "Why don't you go and find Undyne so you can bring her here or tell us where she is so we don't all get separated and lost looking for her?"

"Yo, that's a really good idea! And I can show her my cool move!" the monster's face lit up as he ran off.

"Now that that weirdo's gone, I'll have you know something. I just saved, so now... well, if you manage to kill me, I'll just load right back here and we'll fight, except I'll learn your moves.."

"I'm glad you did that. Means I don't have to relive convincing Papyrus to evacuate."

"..._What._"

"You heard what I said. I figured you had some sort of time power, but knowing that it's confined to specific points makes it easier for me."

Miranda could practically hear the other girl's heartbeat quicken. "I... I... Alright, I'm not giving you the satisfaction of being able to put up a fight," she spat as she ran away.

Miranda jogged forward in pursuit, very glad for the change in temperature. She came to a waterfall with no way across save for wading through the river. _There's no other way she could have gone, so might as well cross._ Miranda did take her shoes and socks off since they were less than dry after all her walking through the snow, placing them in her bag under the double popsicles that were still somehow frozen. She waded carefully through the river, attempting to make as little sound as possible... just in case.

She found her caution warranted on the other side of the waterfall, where she saw a heavily armored figure armed with a glowing blue spear staring intently at a patch of tall grass. Miranda saw the objects of the armored figure's interest- the other human and the monster kid she'd met. The armored figure eventually exhaled and their spear disappeared before they disappeared into the shadows. The two in the grass walked to the other side while Miranda carefully approached them. The kid had tripped and fallen on his face but got back up quickly.

"Yo..." he exclaimed. "did you see the way she was staring at you...? That... was AWESOME! I'm SOOOO jealous! She was standing there waiting FOREVER, and you just...! C'mon! Let's go watch her beat up some bad guys!" He noticed Miranda standing behind them. "Oh, man, you should have seen her! She was just... STARING! Man, I wish I could train with Undyne!" He assumed a superheroesque pose before running off laughing. The other girl just rolled her eyes in disgust.

"Oh, and I suppose you've never had a personal hero or idol?" Miranda raised an eyebrow.

"It's stupid and he's stupid, alright?"

"Whatever makes you happy, except killing since you apparently enjoy that so much," Miranda said, feeling her shovel's weight more intensely than ever.

"I do, thanks for noticing, and I'll do it _**anyway.**_"

_Were my eyes messing with me, or did she just... flicker in her appearance? If she'd been wearing that green and yellow it'd make a little more sense for my eyes to think it was blue and purple for a moment but it was the opposite and now I'm questioning my eyes aaaaaaand she's gone._ Miranda pursued the girl but the calm dim atmosphere of this place made her feel oddly relaxed, slowing her down as some part of her brain she didn't know she had craved this soft, gentle silence. Even at night, there was never any real silence where she lived... One of her foster siblings was always stirring or her foster parents were watching something on the TV downstairs or even on the rare nights the house was quiet the city was always full of noise, and she kind of enjoyed this truly complete silence.

Then she saw another dust pile and was reminded of why she was following the human in the first place. She dug a grave in the grassy ground that was much easier to dig up than the frosty- not frozen, but still tough- ground of the forest outside Snowdin. She placed the dust in the grave and recovered it before whispering her line, but then she noticed a tensity in the air. Before Miranda could react, the other human leaped out and planted a solid punch into her chest, sending her flying at a wall behind her and very nearly knocking her out. A bar flickered in front of her, at first fully green but draining until it was almost totally red with just a sliver of green remaining. _Like a health bar in a video game. And based on that comparison I'm almost dead._ Miranda weakly held up her shovel to block the next attack as the girl stood over her laughing. She grabbed the shovel away from Miranda and snapped it in half like it was a twig before tossing it into the river. The girl readied a punch, but time slowed as she swung and Miranda melted into shadow...

Author's note: Geez, what is it with me and having to split super long chapters up and yet still making a chapter so long it could almost be two? Second time in a row it's happened. Anyway, next chapter we get Miranda's backstory (aka the story behind the reason she's been burying the monsters) and a certain mysterious doctor makes an appearance! Won't spoil any more for y'all though ; D


	8. Chapter Seven: The SOULkeeper

Miranda's eyes fluttered open weakly. She was in a very dark space- or maybe the room was painted black. Miranda couldn't tell. She did notice that her clothes had changed from her previous purple cat shirt and jean skirt to jeans and a dark t-shirt with a bunch of symbols she couldn't make out in her half-asleep state, though she did still have the scarf and her bag. She remembered what had happened and tried to get up. She heard a small gasp of surprise and her soul came out, first black and flickering to blue, and she fell down, pressed to the ground by some unknown force.

A voice spoke from the darkness somewhere to her right. ✂︎? ﾸﾎ□︎■︎? ﾸﾎ⧫︎ ︎ ︎⧫︎ ◆︎◻︎ ⍓︎ ︎⧫︎? ﾸﾎ ︎ ︎ ︎●︎ ︎? ﾸﾎ✂︎

"I-I can't understand-" Miranda was now awake and aware of the horrible pain in her chest, and she winced.

"**My apologies, young one. It has been a long time since I have spoken with anyone other than myself, and longer since I have had to use English. I was simply saying it was a bad idea to get up due to your injuries. Your SOUL is healing, but it is still very fragile."**

"Wh-where am I? Who are you?"

"**You may call me Dr. Gaster. As for where we are... Well, it is... complicated at best, but think of this area as a bridge between the physical world and the void."**

"Your voice- it's familiar... Do I know you?" Miranda turned her head to see but the pain rendered her barely able to move at all, even though her SOUL had returned to its normal black color.

"**In a sense," **Dr. Gaster said with slight amusement. "**I have spoken to you... You have seen me once."**

Miranda suddenly remembered. "That shadow in the Ruins... was that you?"

"**Indeed. I was watching you to ensure my assessment of you was correct... To ensure I had not made a mistake in bringing you to the Underground."**

"Wait... you _brought_ me to the Underground? I wasn't just a complete idiot who fell under Mt. Ebott?" Miranda was slightly bewildered but mostly relieved at the knowledge that her fall wasn't really her fault.

"**You see... well, I suppose you deserve to know the whole story. I'll sit you up."** Miranda was lifted into the air slightly until she was in a sitting position and she could now see Gaster. He was a skeleton who was either wearing a black cloak or who was made of shadow except for his hands and skull. A wise and yet kind face rested on his skull, the kind of face a teacher might wear when speaking with a student they enjoyed teaching. "**So... where to start... Well, I suppose the best place to start is the first 'genocide run,' as I've decided to call it."**

"The _first?_ So this isn't actually the first time this has happened?" Miranda was slightly incredulous. "So why don't I remember anything? I remembered everything when she used her time power after I accidentally, well... killed her."

"**In short, you were not involved in the slightest with it, because I only brought you here **_**after**_ **she used her greatest power... the power of the RESET. To explain RESETTING fully would require an explanation on how SOULs work, but suffice to say that a certain human SOUL trait- DETERMINATION- gives the individual whose DETERMINATION is the strongest control over time in three main uses- SAVING, LOADING, AND RESETTING."**

"I imagine they're similar to video game mechanics- saving and loading allow the user to access specific points in time while resetting allows the user to rewind time completely to one specific point?" Miranda interjected.

"**Precisely,"** Gaster nodded. "**You have witnessed SAVING and LOADING yourself. Most would have no memory of what happened since the previous SAVE after a LOAD occurs, but some... particulary those who witness the act of LOADING as well as those who know it exists, will remember. Like you."**

"I understand all that, but how does that tie in to you bringing me to the Underground?"

Gaster sighed. "**Like I said, there was one genocide run before this. And Frisk- the other human- was merciless. I was wracked with grief over the deaths... my sons... but I could do little in the void. But then, after she killed the king, this timeline... It was erased. Completely. As if it had never existed."**

"So... How are we here?" Miranda was having trouble believing Gaster's story, at least the bit about the timeline being erased.

"**Well, since I was shattered into the void long ago, and the world faded into the void, I was not erased, so I know what happened. Frisk... is a very strange human. She gave Chara- or, rather, Chara's spirit, I suppose- her SOUL in exchange for bringing the world back."**

"Who's Chara?" Miranda asked, her suspicions melting since Gaster seemed so earnest, but she was still highly curious.

"**Chara was the first human to fall into the Underground. The king and queen adopted her, and treated her as their own, but one day... she fell very sick and died. The prince, Asriel, absorbed her SOUL and carried Chara's body across the barrier so he could lay her body in the flowers of her village. The humans, however, had other plans. They attacked Asriel with primal ferocity. He barely survived long enough to get back to the Underground. In his grief, the king declared war on humanity- all humans were to be destroyed on sight and their SOULs sent to the capital. The queen, outraged, left for the RUINS."**

"Toriel."

"**Hmm?"**

"The queen was Toriel, wasn't she?"

"**Indeed, Miranda," **Gaster chuckled before sighing nostalgically. "**You remind me so very much of Michael..."**

"Michael? Who's that?"

"**Michael Halden, SOUL of FURY, and eighth member of the Color Guard."**

"You _knew_ him?" Miranda was shocked more at this than she was at anything else Gaster had said so far.

"**He was my best friend. I miss him dearly... I enjoy watching timelines where he was never killed and instead came to the Underground with the monsters when they were banished."**

"I'd ask about that, but instead I'll ask a different question. Were you the skeleton who led the attack on the human camp in the Battle of Vengeance?"

Gaster nodded. "**Now, where were we?"**

"Chara, Asriel, war on humanity. We went down that rabbit trail because you were talking about the whole SOUL-selling thing with Frisk and Chara's spirit."

"**Ah, yes. Anyway, I could see Frisk's intentions... she planned to do it again. And again. All for the sake of a game. I couldn't stop her directly, I knew that much... Not with my physical state as unstable as it is. But, in theory, if I could find someone whose SOUL who was related or close to someone I have any sort of amiable bond with, I could bring them to the Underground. And I found you almost immediately. Because, Miranda, Michael is your great-great-grandfather,"** Gaster said with a spark in his eyes.

"That's amazing... a direct descendant of _Michael_ of all people, but... why me? And why do I remember going to and falling under the mountain if you brought me here?"

"**The second question is easier to answer than the first,"** Gaster admitted. "**I decided to alter your memories, so if you turned out to be... incorrectly assessed, I could simply whisk you back like you never left and you'd likely assume it was a dream. As for the first question... A long story short, I saw who you projected yourself to be, and that was a person so very like Michael. Someone who wouldn't hesitate to help another in need. Someone who would face the** _**fury**_ **of hell to protect her loved ones."**

"Are you related to Sans?" Miranda smiled, never one to miss a pun.

"**He's my son, yes. And so is Papyrus. And** _**tibia**_ **perfectly honest-"** he was interrupted by Miranda's failed attempt to hold back her laughter that ended in a small groan from a pain spike, "**-when you kept him from dying again to her hand, that was really the moment you won me over."**

"That was completely improvised, by the way. I barely knew what I was saying until after I'd said it."

"**It didn't seem like it, I'll be straightforward with you. But, now that I've talked so much, I've got a question for you."**

"Shoot," Miranda shrugged with a small wince.

"**Why? Why exactly are you so willing, so... desperate, honestly, to help monsters?"**

"It's not just monsters. Like you said before about Michael, it's anyone who needs it, but... well, my foster family doesn't like to accept help and my friends so rarely admit they need it. The monsters are probably the first people who I've been able to help and it's... immensely liberating and almost unbearably soul-crushing at the same time, but I couldn't imagine stopping. I'd feel worse than I do already with the whole not being able to save monsters... But the story behind that is what I assume you're looking for," Miranda took a breath and Gaster nodded.

"I... I mean, there really isn't much of a story to tell. My sister Lyren and I were sent into foster care when we were young. I was seven and she was... four, I think? Neither of us were told the whole story, but from what I could piece together, they were convicted of some crime that got them a life sentence and nobody in our family wanted us, so foster care was really the only option. We bounced around a few homes, but eventually we were separated. It was... two years ago? I had just turned twelve and Lyren was nine. I've been in the same foster home since then. They're nice enough, but I always feel like they're just fostering for the social brownie points. They aren't abusive or anything, but I don't really feel like a part of the family," Miranda admitted.

"But what I know is I'm not going to go down the same path my biological parents did. So I help whenever and wherever I can. Whether it's helping rake leaves in the city park for an event or baking cupcakes for a school party or organizing new books in the library... It's practically a drug that I'm addicted to. If that makes sense. But it's hard at the same time, because I'm doing stuff other, stronger, faster people would be able and willing to do while my foster family just ignores me if I offer help. So I always feel like I'm not enough and I'm doing something wrong. That probably made no sense."

Gaster chuckled. "**No, I understand. But, ah, it seems you've fully healed so you should probably go."**

"Hmm?" Miranda concentrated, bringing up the bar she'd seen when Frisk attacked her. It was fully green. "Oh, well, I probably should, then." She stood up to leave.

"**Oh, I almost forgot something. Here, young one. Take this," **Gaster said as he handed her a small black object not unlike a river stone.

"No offense, but how is this supposed to help me with anything?"

"**Visualize something and concentrate on it."**

"Like, food? Or a weapon?"

"**Try a shovel since you've used one so much. Something you're familiar with would be best to start."**

"That's a depressing thought, but I'll try..." Miranda closed her eyes and focused. It felt like she was channeling power through every fiber of her being. The object began to shift in her hand, until it stopped completely.

"**Very good! I'm impressed. It took Michael several tries to figure out how to do it."**

Miranda opened her eyes. She was holding a shovel in her hand, and it was the same size as the one that had been broken. "What? But- how?"

"**It's infused with strains of FURY- your SOUL trait. One of only two traits, the other being DETERMINATION, that can be isolated from a SOUL. So it responds to your SOUL, as it did Michael's."**

"So, what your saying is that this is specifically attuned to my SOUL trait? So a SOUL of, say, Justice couldn't use it, at least not effectively?"

"**Correct. A SOUL of BRAVERY or DETERMINATION **_**might**_ **be able to, but it would take more energy than it was worth. All other SOUL traits, other than FURY, of course, would be unable to make this change form. Though, I should add, it would be unwise to make it food and eat it."**

"That's fair," Miranda laughed. "But why is it so light? I needed two hands to hold the shovel that was broken."

"**It doesn't change weight based on its form because it's made mostly of magic, which also makes it nearly unbreakable."**

"So, in theory, I could turn it into a massive nuclear bomb and hold it in one hand?"

"**Theoretically, yes, but it would be incredibly unwise. Whatever a nuclear bomb is, I assume it's destructive."**

"It is, massively so, but don't worry, that's not my plan. But, um, I have to ask... Does this thing have a name?"

"**A name? Not that I'm aware of."**

"You mind if I name it something?"

"**I mean... It's yours now. Name it what you like."**

"SOULkeeper."

"**Hm?"** Gaster tilted his head.

"That's what I'm naming it," Miranda decided. "The SOULkeeper."

"**Appropriate, I suppose. But we're wasting time. Your fight with Frisk stalled her enough that all but a few of the monsters of Waterfall were able to evacuate, but there are still a few she'll kill. I'll show you to the door."**

"You aren't coming?"

"**I... I can't. I am unable to exist outside of this room or the void itself."**

"I see. Well, maybe we'll meet again?" Miranda tied the SOULkeeper around her waist and offered a handshake.

"**Perhaps," **Gaster said before taking the offered hand. He was startled when she turned that handshake into a hug.

"Thank you for bringing me here, Dr. Gaster," Miranda whispered.

"**Y-you're welcome, young one. Now go. There's no more time to waste."** Miranda nodded, and walked out the door, her head held high and her heart filled with hope, FURY, and prepared to uphold every value she held dear. The door disappeared behind her as she closed it. She decided to go right and passed a doorway. She considered entering, but a voice from inside made her decide not to.

"Try to fight me, kiddo!"

An annoyed grunt came from the room. "Stupid old man," Frisk's voice muttered, only it sounded distorted, like it was mixed with another voice that was whispering.

"I know you can't here," the first voice said. "Wah ha... Knowledge like that is the only reason I've survived so long."

Miranda booked it out of there until she came to a crossroads. On her right were three roads and on her left only one. She could also go straight. She was interrupted from her consideration when she saw a dust pile. She grabbed her new tool and dug the grave, placed the dust in, and whispered her line. But now she felt neither numb nor sad. This wasn't just about giving peace to the fallen monsters anymore. This was a calling to be answered, a journey to be taken, a story to be written. Then she saw a dummy, torn up and beaten and barely discernible, down the single path, which led to water and a bunch of trash. Miranda was reminded of the first dummy she'd seen in the RUINS. It felt like it had been a thousand years ago since then but she realized it hadn't been more than two or three days ago. She saw a roll of fabric at the top of one of the mountains of discarded appliances and books and games and trash as well as a pair of rusty scissors sticking out. She grabbed both and cut a few strips of the colorful fabric and tied them around the dummy, making an honestly kind of pretty pattern. Then the dummy sprouted eyes.

Miranda jumped back. "Uh..."

"W-What the hell just happened?" the dummy shook its head and floated a bit. It looked like it wanted to punch something.

"I'd tell you if I knew, but you looked pretty beat up. I did my best to patch up the holes."

"OH MY GOD I REMEMBER NOW! WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON THAT DAMN HUMAN-"

"You don't _have_ hands," Miranda interrupted.

"I MEANT METAPHORICALLY!" the dummy shouted, then took a moment to size her up. "Wait... you're a human too. OH MY GOD. I'M GOING TO KILL YOU."

"Yeah... Wait, WHAT?"

"DUMMY BOTS! ASSEMBLE!" he again shouted, and robotic dummies appeared from literally everywhere. Miranda willed the SOULkeeper to become a shield and raised it, glad it was lightweight.

"WHEN I GET YOUR SOUL, I'LL BE ABLE TO TAKE REVENGE ON THAT OTHER HUMAN FOR WHAT SHE DID TO ME AND TO MY COUSIN! _AND_ I'LL BE ABLE TO CROSS THE BARRIER!"

"Wait, your cousin? Are they also a dummy?"

"HUH? Oh, yeah, they live in the RUINS. Or they DID! UNTIL THAT OTHER HUMAN CAME ALONG AND ATTACKED THEIR HOST!"

"If it makes any difference, I tied vines around the gashes on your cousin's body."

"Wait. That was you?"

"I just said that I tied the vines. So yeah."

"Oh... well. This is embarrassing. Uh... DUMMY BOTS! DISASSEMBLE!" The robots disappeared. "Hey, sorry about trying to kill you."

"Eh, no hard feelings. But, uh... Well, I should probably keep going."

"See ya. And thanks for the outfit."

"Looks good on ya. See you around." Miranda turned the SOULkeeper back into a shovel and fastened it to her back before walking off and checking the westernmost path. Just a fish-shaped house with no dust in it. Then she took the middle path. She came to two houses- one pink, one blue. She knocked on the door to the blue house and a familiar voice came from inside.

"is someone there? i'm coming... if you want..."

"Napstablook?" Miranda asked. "Is that you?"

Her ghostly friend opened the door. "miranda? i mean, i am napstablook... unless you don't want me to be... then i guess i can be someone else, heh..."

"I most definitely would like you to be Napstablook," Miranda said with a smile as she tried to hug Napstablook, but went straight through. "Oh. Right. Ghost. I forgot in my excitement to see you."

"you were actually excited to see me... i disappointed you didn't i... oh... i'm sorry..."

"Napstablook you couldn't disappoint me if you tried I disappointed myself you cinnamon roll. But I was just kinda passing through and making sure Fr- the other human hadn't killed anyone here."

"well... she didn't kill anyone in the house beside me... my cousin used to live there... but left a long time ago..." Napstablook sighed, looking really lonely.

"Hey, you, um, look kinda lonely. Do you want to, well... come along with me? Maybe you could bring some of your music."

"yeah, i'd like that... if it isn't a burden to you... not many people like my music..."

"Ain't any trouble, Napstablook. Not at all."

"okay, well... let me get some of my music and pack some food... i'll be right there miranda..."

"See you in a bit. I saw a door and I figured I might head over and check it out."

"oh, you mean gerson's shop? he's kinda cool... he fought in the human-monster war..."

Miranda waved goodbye to her friend and walked just past Gerson's shop. She wanted to see if Frisk was in the area. She found her, lying peacefully near the river. Asleep. _Well, she'll hopefully sleep for a while. I admit, though... I'm a little tired myself._ Miranda walked through the doorway and found an old tortise monster shuffling through some boxes full of old-looking stuff.

"So, yer back, hmm?" he muttered. It was the voice who'd been talking to Frisk earlier. "Shoulda known you'd come back, ya little-" he stopped and looked at Miranda.

"Hi," she squeaked awkwardly.

"You ain't the human that was in here before, were ya?"

"No," she said, still awkwardly. "Are you Gerson?"

"Who's askin'?"

"My name's Miranda."

"Ain't never met ya', an' yer human. I ain't 'bout to tell ya mah name 'till I know who ye are."

"I'm a direct descendant of Michael."

"I don't know any- wait. Michael as in Michael Halden, the SOUL of FURY? From that ol' Color Guard or whatever the humans called it durin' the war?"

"That's the one, no other I know."

"Well, then, ye ain't got no sign o' lyin' on yer face, so howdy'do, Miss Miranda? I'm indeed Gerson, proud owner o' this here shop," the monster beamed, holding his hand-claw-thing out for a handshake. Miranda gladly accepted. "So, what can I do ye' for?"

"I was mostly just making sure that there wasn't anybody dead here. I've been, well... I've been burying the remains of every monster I've come across. And going out of my way to make sure she didn't kill any in a place I can't immediately see."

"Yep, yer definitely a descendant of Michael. Could see him doin' that himself. Cause he did once! Wah ha ha! Yer family ever tell ya stories 'bout him?"

"I... I don't remember if they did, and I was... separated from them when I was seven. I didn't even know I _was _a descendant of Michael until Dr. Gaster told me," Miranda shrugged.

"Dr. Gaster? The old Royal Scientist? I barely remember him... How'd you meet him?"

"Long story short, he saved my life from the other human."

"Ah, I see. He tell ya that he an' Michael were best buds once?"

"He mentioned it, yes."

"Well, I've got a couple stories if ya want to hear 'em."

"I'd love to- Oh, heya, Napstablook!" Miranda waved as the ghost came in.

"are you two busy? i can come back... later... if you want..." he appeared about to leave when Gerson spoke up.

"Naw, Napst'blook. Ya don't have to go. Ye look like yer in need of some cheerin' up and I've got a few stories to do just that!" he slapped his knee and laughed.

"well... if you're okay with it, miranda..."

"Sure am."

"Anyway, what was I talkin' about?" Gerson adjusted his hat.

"You were about to tell a story about Michael and Dr. Gaster," Miranda reminded him while sitting down, grabbing a Bisicle from her bag and breaking half of it off, and spreading the SOULkeeper as a blanket over her knees.

"Ah, yes, I remember now. Dr. Gaster was the ol' Royal Scientist, an' he lived durin' the war. His best friend before and durin' the war was a human named Michael Hardin..." he began his story, which Miranda and Napstablook thoroughly enjoyed, and he told stories for several hours, with Miranda occasionally telling a story she remembered from Mister Aaron, until Miranda's eyes drifted closed, and she fell soundly asleep.

Author's note: The hardest part about this chapter was figuring out Miranda's backstory. I was going to make it a very tragic and emotional story where her whole family dies except her, but then I decided to make it so that her sister survived along with her, but then I decided the whole idea was stupid, so I rewrote it, but I didn't like the rewrite either, so I rewrote it again and I'm reasonably happy with this one. Anyway, I'm on Thanksgiving break, so I'll be able to devote most of my time to writing so we might get another chapter this week? They're getting progressively more work-intensive (since more happens in the game after Papyrus than before it :P), though, so don't be surprised if it doesn't come out until next week.


	9. Chapter Eight: Spear of JUSTICE

Miranda was woken up by Gerson's claw poking her.

"Hey, kiddo, you awake yet?" the monster asked. "Good, you are. That li'l ghost said the other human was awake and headin' eastward."

Miranda leaped up, swinging her bag to her arm, and the SOULkeeper turned into a shovel, which she then attached to the vine. "Thanks for letting me sleep here, Mr. Gerson."

"No problem, Miss Miranda. Here, before you go..." he trailed off while rummaging through a few boxes. "Take these," he said, presenting her with a pair of marred glasses and several crustacean-shaped fruits. "Ya might need 'em."

"What are these for?" Miranda asked.

"The glasses'll increase yer DEFENSE, just in case ye get in any fights with Undyne or, God forbid, the other human. The fruits are called Crab Apples an' they'll bring up 18 o' yer HP if ye get hurt. How much do ye have, by the way?"

"Um... I'm not sure and I don't know how to check it."

"Well, bein' human, ye shouldn't have more than twenty or so unless you've killed a bunch o' monsters."

"Even if I had wanted to- which I never would have- there haven't been any to kill," Miranda reflected morosely.

"Fair point," Gerson nodded. "But ye best be goin'."

Miranda slipped the glasses on her face and dropped the Crab Apples in her bag. "Thank you. So much. See you... again, hopefully."

He pushed her out the door. "Yer a hero, y'hear? Even if ye haven't fought a battle, yer a hero. And I believe in you, even if nobody else will. That's a soldier's promise."

Miranda felt tears of happiness in her eyes, but simply nodded and chased the sunrise, resolved to bring JUSTICE to this... Honestly, Frisk wasn't human anymore, but "demon" seemed still a little too strong. Miranda had to stop her, but just killing her wasn't going to do anything. As hard as it was... the greatest heroes in the stories she loved, they were the ones who still believed the villains could change. Could she believe the same about Frisk? Was she _willing_ to believe it?

She eventually came to a maze with a lit up path. She saw Frisk on the opposite end through the dim glow- Frisk had come from around a hidden corner. Miranda hid in the shadows, making sure to stay hidden, as she crept toward the hidden path. She went through and... hold up, was she hearing _music?_

"Bop do, bum doo, bop do, bum do-doo," she sang along to this nonsensically adorable song. There was a sign in front of her that she decided to read.

"hOI! welcom to... TEM VILLAGE!" it read. Miranda looked around. No dust piles. There was a painting of a strange dog-cat creature standing on a dragon.

"What the heck did I just walk into?" She noticed a doorway and walked through. A dog-cat creature in a blue and yellow shirt greeted her.

"hOI! welcom to... da TEM SHOP!" Miranda had to walk out. "bOI!" the creature waved.

Miranda nearly choked. "Oh my so cute help me somebody I can't deal with this help me aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa..." she took a second to breathe before seeing a statue of the dog-cat creatures with "TEM" proudly displayed at the base of it. She read the inscription.

"Statue of tem... very famus

VERY!"

Miranda composed herself and walked into the shop.

"hOI agan cute hooman! welcom bak to TEM SHOP!"

"Hi," she had to force herself to resist the urge to huggle the tem.

"hOI! i'm temmie."

Miranda pulled out a Crab Apple.

"WOA!" Temmie exclaimed. "u gota... CrabApples! u seem like nice hooman! so tem will buy CrabApple for... 10G! more than 5G!"

"yes," Miranda said in a small voice before putting the fruit on the counter. Temmie fished around in a bag of money and slid over ten gold pieces.

"Thank you," Miranda pocketed the money.

"woud hooman like to buy TEM FLAKES?" Temmie asked.

"Um... no thanks. Sorry," Miranda apologized.

"dat's ok, tem understan. bOI! com to tem shop agan!" Temmie sneezed as Miranda left.

"Okay, I think I just contracted terminal adorabetes from that I'm going to go for a small walk like a mass-murderer human chasing one oh my ****ing Lord that was too cute." She walked out and made her way through the maze before coming upon a pile of dust with a blue shirt about the size of Temmie's. Miranda muttered to herself as she dug the grave, "Okay. This has gone too far. She killed a tem. That is a sin that cannot be forgiven." She finished the burial and sighed. "Tem... Whatever your name is... May you be taken to a land full of Tem Flakes. Whatever they are. I assume tems like them. And may you be given the peace you deserve, in whatever measure it may be." She turned the SOULkeeper into a cloak- even though it was warmer than Snowdin, it was still fairly cool here- and followed a path made by the footsteps of the human until it got... really dark. Like, nearly pitch black. But she could see her SOUL flicker in front of her, and the shadows suddenly became a lot brighter. There was a pool of water in front of her, and the human was wading through. But there was another figure- armored, yet stealthy, and Miranda had no doubt that it was Undyne. She rolled up her pant legs and began wading through the water, making sure to pick her feet up as little as possible as to not make much noise. But Undyne got to Frisk before Miranda was halfway across.

"Behind you," Undyne said to Frisk. "Seven. Seven human SOULs, and the barrier will be shattered forever. We need only one more. This is your only chance to redeem yourself, human. Give up your SOUL."

Frisk stood defiant, with a sneer on her face. Undyne sighed, and a spear materialized in her hand. "Then you leave me no choice." The soldier stalked forward intimidatingly, but Frisk just looked bored. _Of course she's bored. According to Gaster, she's seen it all before._ Suddenly, a patch of tall grass near the two rustled and the monster kid Miranda had met earlier jumped out in front of Undyne's spear. "Undyne! I'll help you capture... uh... yo, dude? A-are you the one Undyne's... HEY, HEY OW! Undyne... You're not gonna tell my parents, right?" the kid asked as Undyne dragged him away from Frisk. Miranda wisely saw the need to backtrack the heck outta that place. She found a path that branched off from the one she'd been on- Miranda had only missed it because she was focused on Undyne. She slipped through, passing whispering, luminescent blue flowers until she turned and came to a bridge. She considered crossing until she heard footsteps down the path she'd just traveled. Frisk was muttering some stuff about the monster kid and a game.

"Crap," Miranda felt a pang of fear in her SOUL. There wasn't anywhere to hide until she crossed the bridge, and she figured Frisk would be crossing too and she wasn't sure she would be able to hide before she was caught. Then Miranda had an idea. There were struts underneath the bridge. She gripped her cloak, praying that her gymnastics and baseball lessons would help her, and envisioned a grappling hook. The cloak melted off her body and she had what she wanted. With no time to spare, Miranda ran and leaped off the bridge, tossing her hook up at a strut in the middle of the bridge. It, miraculously, connected before she became a grease spot on the cavern floor, and her downward momentum changed into swinging momentum, swinging her around the pole that supported the bridge horizontally until she was close enough to grab it. Her hand rubbed on the pole, though, and she got a few painful splinters in her palm. By the time she had gotten them out, Frisk was on the bridge and the monster kid was talking to her. Miranda pulled herself up the rope and managed to tie a slip knot one-handed so she wouldn't fall. She listened to their conversation, hidden by the bridge slats.

"Undyne told me to stay away from you. She said you... You hurt a lot of people. But, yo, that's not true, right!? ...yo... Why won't you answer me? A... a... and what's with that weird expression...?"

Miranda peered up. Frisk did indeed have a weird expression- soulless, empty, and craving the kill. She raised a pair of ballet shoes like a weapon.

"Oh... Oh man..." the kid took a step back and whispered, "Man, my h-heart's pounding right out of my chest... what would Undyne do?" He visibly gritted his teeth, though he was trembling fiercely. "Yo... Y-you'd b-better st-stop r-right where you are... Cause if you w-wanna hurt anyone else... you're... You're gonna have to get through me, first. A... and... and..." the kid trailed off, the bravado fleeing him. Miranda wanted to help, but she was paralyzed with fear. She tried desperately to break free, but her muscles seized up. Frisk took a few steps back, and for a moment, Miranda dared to hope that Frisk might be willing to change. All those hopes were obliterated when she charged, the kid's fearful gasp rising above a metallic clanging.

And then, the world slowed down. Color melted away. Undyne had shoved the kid out of the way, causing her to absorb the full hit, but the kid also lost his footing and fell off the bridge. Miranda's vision darkened and magical adrenaline filled her veins. She loosened the knot as the world progressed in slow motion and kicked off to grab the kid. Her arms wrapped around his waist and she lost her momentum, causing her to swing back to the pole. She wrapped a leg around and resecured herself. The world kicked back into full speed and Undyne cried, "NO! KID!" while gasping for breath.

Miranda called back, "Don't worry, I've got him!"

The kid panicked for a moment but Miranda gripped him close and gave him a reassuring smile. He nodded. "She's got me, Undyne!"

Undyne sighed and clutched her chest. Miranda willed the rope to lengthen and began swinging over to a ledge on the side she'd come from, so she didn't catch all of Undyne's speech. "Just one hit, and I'm already... Papyrus... Alphys... ASGORE... I've failed you... Feels like it's splitting apart... Scatter into... Deep in my SOUL, there's a burning feeling... WON'T let me die... If you get past me, you'll... Monsters... Humans... Everyone... Vanquished in an instant... I can feel their hearts beating as one... One goal. To defeat YOU... Whatever you are..." Miranda finally got to the ledge and set the kid down.

"Go," she mouthed. The kid nodded, clambered up the cliff, and ran back down the path. Miranda called the SOULkeeper back to her, got up onto the bridge, and turned to see Undyne's dust beginning to scatter.

But the hero wouldn't die yet. Light streamed from Undyne's body and she yelled triumphantly, "I, UNDYNE, THE SPEAR OF JUSTICE, WILL STRIKE YOU DOWN!" When Miranda opened her eyes again, Undyne stood there, but she had new armor, and light streaming from her left eye. Miranda now understood why the kid was so enamored with her. "You're gonna have to try a little harder than THAT," Undyne said with an audible smirk. _Anime protagonist much?_

Undyne swung her spear and made some sort of spin and both Frisk and Miranda's SOULs turned bright green. Miranda panicked slightly when she couldn't move, but she was quickly silenced by the appearance of music. A piano intro and then strings came up faint, then an instrument came up that Miranda couldn't identify, but the song was truly fit for a battle against a true hero. Then the spears started flying. None of them appeared near Miranda, and since she couldn't move, she was content to watch. A blue spear approached Frisk from the side, and she grabbed it. Then red and blue spears came, from the top, and all cardinal directions aside from the front. Frisk blocked them all and struck Undyne with a ballet-shoed kick. Undyne barely flinched, though she lost nearly 1,500 HP. But her HP bar didn't lose much green. Unfazed, she summoned more, and this time Frisk got hit with a few. Another hit, another spear-shooting round. Another hit. Then Undyne turned Frisk's SOUL back to red, though this time Miranda wasn't included. She raised a bit in the air, lifted by a few spears, and circles of spears began to form around Frisk, shooting and missing her. Then Undyne cocked some spears and they formed a snowflake shape, hitting Frisk, but a few missed and headed straight for Miranda. Thinking quickly, Miranda did the only thing she could do and blocked the spears with the SOULkeeper, which she turned into a shield for the attack. The fight raged on, with Undyne throwing more and more spears and Frisk blocking, dodging, and kicking. Eventually she landed a blow that turned out to be fatal. Miranda was released from the grasp of the green attack. But Undyne didn't die immediately.

"Damn it..."she said. "So even THAT power... It wasn't enough...? Heh... Heheheh... If you... If you think I'm gonna give up hope, you're wrong. 'Cause I've... Got my friends behind me. Alphys told me that she would watch me fight you... And if anything went wrong, she would... evacuate everyone. By now she's called ASGORE and told him to absorb the six human SOULs," Undyne struggled to keep confidence in her voice, not out of uncertainity, but because she began to literally melt. Miranda watched with fear and awe. "And with that power... This world will live on...!" She melted, still more, and Frisk turned away. Miranda raced over and gathered whatever solidity was left in Undyne's body and pulled it to the earth on the other side. Undyne momentarily formed back into her normal solid shape and her eyes fluttered open, tinged crimson. "Human... What are... you doing?"

"Making sure you don't die without a burial," Miranda said solemnly.

"Heh... maybe... all humans… aren't too bad. Can... can you make me a promise? If you're... willing..."

"Anything in my power, Undyne."

"Protect... Alphys, okay? She... she's the Royal... Scientist. Tell her... I... love..." Undyne closed her eyes as she became a puddle.

"I will, Undyne," Miranda promised as dug a grave and shoveled as much of the melted remains as she could. A spear lay on the bridge, and Miranda stuck in in the dirt with the tip buried. Then she turned the SOULkeeper into a pickaxe and attempted to carve "Here lies UNDYNE" in the rock of the cave wall. After a ton of exertion, she looked at her work. It was extremely crude-looking, but it was readable, even if it wasn't clean or pretty. The glow from the spear helped, though, and Miranda decided she didn't have time to clean it up. "I'm sorry I was too much of a coward to save you," she whispered. She brushed the rock dust off her arms, turned the SOULkeeper into a shovel and raced onward, crossing a bridge and passing a sign that was probably supposed to be lit up that said "Welcome to Hotland."

It wasn't lying. She came to another sentry station with snow on the roof. It wouldn't have been strange if she wasn't surrounded by literal lava and already sweating from the heat. There was a laboratory up ahead, which Miranda found out with her incredible powers of deduction by reading the sign that said "LAB."

"Well, that's probably where Alphys is, and Frisk couldn't have gone any other way," Miranda reasoned. She walked over after putting her shoes back on and was going to knock on the door when it opened on its own. "Motion detector," Miranda laughed weakly. It was dark inside, but her SOUL rang with a feeling she hadn't known before. It flickered in front of her, and she gasped. It wasn't only black anymore. There were trickles of orange and golden yellow and green and a touch of purple and those colors radiated, filling the room with a soft glow. Miranda looked around and heard a mechanical whirring. She faced the source, the SOULkeeper turning into a weapon she didn't immediately recognize. The lights flickered on and the source turned out to be a rectangular metal block rolling on a wheel and holding a chainsaw. After surveying it some more, Miranda decided it was the sexiest rectangle she'd seen in her life.

"SO. WHO ARE YOU, HUMAN?" The robot asked.

"Miranda."

"A PERSON OF FEW WORDS. HOW DELIGHTFUL. BUT, AH, YOU SEE... ANOTHER OF YOUR KIND HAS BEEN-"

"Killing every monster she's come across," Miranda interrupted, and cast a disturbed look. "I've seen it firsthand."

"WELL, I SUPPOSE YOU UNDERSTAND WHY I HAVE TO KILL YOU. IF I CAN GET YOUR SOUL TO KING ASGORE, HE WILL BECOME A GOD AND BE ABLE TO STOP THIS MENACE."

"Mettaton, no!" A dinosaur-like monster in a lab coat shot out from a door. "Don't... don't kill her, alright? Don't you recognize that weapon?"

Miranda took the time to study it. A black scythe with stripes the colors that were on her SOUL. "Wait a minute... isn't this the Scythe of FURY?"

"Yeah. And... I've been watching your journey alongside... _hers._ I know you made a promise to Undyne. I saw you bury her. All the monsters you've buried since you left Snowdin. Thank you."

"ALPHYS, DARLING, I'M NOT CONVINCED. THIS SCYTHE COULD BE FAKE. MIRANDA COULD BE PRETENDING TO CARE. COULD BE IN LEAGUE WITH THE MURDERER."

Miranda fell to the ground laughing at the absurdity of it. Alphys looked at her with a blank stare and Mettaton was scratching the top right corner of his body like one would scratch their head. "Uh... are you... alright? Do you need help or something?" Alphys had her mouth slightly open in confusion.

Miranda laughed for a solid thirty seconds and tears began to form before she stopped. She replaced the glasses after they fell off and took a few deep breaths. "I'm... sorry... it's just... the absurdity... it's too much... the leap in logic... help me..."

"I... SUPPOSE THAT WAS A BIT OF A LEAP. I JUST FIND IT HARD TO TRUST A HUMAN AFTER SEEING WHAT THE OTHER HAS DONE."

"I don't blame ya, Mettaton," Miranda admitted. "Um, Alphys, right?"

"...Yeah?"

"I don't suppose... you heard the promise I made to Undyne?"

"I didn't. I was... well, I was a little upset."

"ALPHYS, DARLING, CALL IT WHAT IT IS. YOU WERE LYING IN A PUDDLE OF TEARS WHEN I FOUND YOU."

"Uhhhhhh moving on!" Miranda decided to spare Alphys any more embarrassment. "Well, I promised to protect you. And... Undyne said she loved you." Alphys blushed hotly.

"She... she really said that?"

Miranda nodded. "And I take promises seriously. You're not leaving my sight."

"AS WONDERFUL AS THIS LOVE STORY IS, I SHOULD... WELL. I'M THE LAST MONSTER BEFORE ASGORE HIMSELF AVAILABLE TO DEFEAT_ HER_. AND THE ONLY WAY I'M DOING IT IS IN ABSOLUTE _STYLE_. BLOOKY... THIS IS FOR YOU."

"You know Napstablook?" Miranda asked with a bit of surprise.

"I... WELL, HE'S MY COUSIN. HE... DOESN'T KNOW, THOUGH."

"He'd be overjoyed to know, I'll tell you that. You're his personal idol. He told me about you when we met in the Ruins."

"I DON'T HAVE TIME TO TELL HIM. NOT NOW. BUT IF YOU SEE HIM..."

"I'll tell him."

Mettaton's wheel became a rocket and he flew out rapidly. Alphys hugged Miranda. "Thank you for telling me what she said."

"Undyne told me to tell you," Miranda shrugged. "I made a promise."

Alphys nodded. "You look like a real hero with that scythe like that."

Miranda looked. It was standing mostly upright and she had an arm wrapped around it, and her bag was positioned on the other side. "We should go. I know it probably isn't safe out there, but in case any monsters didn't evacuate, I need to be able to bury them," Miranda willed the SOULkeeper to become a shovel, but the color remained, and now a new color joined them- dark blue, the color of INTEGRITY._ Even if I'm too much of a coward to do anything else,_ she thought to herself.

Author notes: Okay first of all I meant to get this out in time for turkey day but you know THAT didn't happen ;-; Anyway, you're probably wondering about the color thing. It will be highly relevant later and I don't want to spoil too much, so I'll leave the explanation down below so you don't have to read it if you don't want to.

Alright, if you're reading this, you don't mind spoilers. So, basically, when Miranda exemplifies a trait, it'll show up in her SOUL because in this world, FURY can mix with other traits without overpowering them. Miranda's been showing kindness the whole time, but it only awakened when Undyne turned her SOUL green (this will also be how Patience works later when Miranda encounters a blue attack from the lasers during the CORE). And, if you've been paying attention to the chapters, these traits are specifically mentioned in previous chapters (I'm giving you an excuse to reread the story lol) and some are literally in the titles. DETERMINATION is gonna be a little different but I've spoiled enough for now so byeeeeeeeee


	10. INTERMISSION: A True Nightmare

I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in so long, but I've been recovering from complicated oral surgery and then the holidays happened. On top of that, I've got no idea how to do Hotland or the CORE, but here's a short story with Miranda and Omega Flowey to apologize. This isn't canon at all, but I've left everybody who's been reading this story hanging for too long.

* * *

Miranda walked through the blackness, not sure where she was. A sparkle caught her eye and she walked toward it. A golden star floated in the darkness, and Miranda touched it curiously. A white-bordered rectangle shot up, and Miranda stumbled back in surprise.

**_MIRANDA LV 2 2898:26_**

"Wh..." Miranda began to ask what it was, but suddenly it began to split apart violently. The box shattered and Flowey's face appeared, but it was supersized. Static flickered, and it moved up- a TV screen, perhaps?

"Howdy!" Flowey giggled in his childish voice. "It's me, FLOWEY! FLOWEY the FLOWER! I owe you a HUGE thanks."

_Huge thanks? For... For what? You thanking me can only lead to trouble._

"You really did a number on that old fool. Without you, I NEVER could have gotten past him. But now, with YOUR help... He's DEAD." Flowey's face shifted momentarily to a kind-looking, fatherly face and then to that same face, but a misshapen skull. Miranda's heart panged.

_I... I didn't kill anybody! Except Frisk... but she's a girl! I... I don't..._

Flowey interrupted her internal monologue. "And I'VE got the human SOULS! Boy! I've been empty for so long... It feels great to have a SOUL inside me again. Mmmm, I can feel them wriggling... Awww, you're feeling left out, aren't you? Well, that's just perfect. After all, I only have six souls. I still need one more... Before I become GOD."

_Okay, A, there's only one god, and B, that sounds like a **very bad idea.**_

"And then, with my newfound powers... Monsters. Humans. Everyone. I'll show them all the REAL meaning of this world." Flowey's face shifted to... Toriel's face, maybe? Miranda hadn't seen it much but it was definitely familiar. Whatever the case, his face shifted to the monster's face when he mentioned monsters and to a very blank expression when he mentioned humans, and when he said "Everyone" three circles formed and began swirling and blinking, which made Miranda nearly want to puke. Flowey then laughed darkly. "Oh, and forget about escaping to your old SAVE FILE. It's gone FOREVER."

_Wait what's a SAVE FILE I'm not in a video game... right?_

"But don't worry. Your old friend FLOWEY... Has worked out a replacement for you! I'll SAVE over your own death. So you can watch me tear you to bloody pieces... Over, and over, and over..." Miranda couldn't take any more, so she stepped forward and clenched her fists. "...what? Do you really think you can stop ME? Hee hee hee... You really ARE an idiot." He disappeared, and Miranda's SOUL materialized. Six other SOULs also appeared, one of every human SOUL color except red and black. They spread out and vanished. Suddenly red light glowed and vanished, glowed and vanished, and a hulking black shape or series of shapes began approaching Miranda. She was paralyzed with fear. She wanted to scream, but her voice seemed blocked. It approached, still closer, and it stopped. A smile flickered on a TV screen. It dropped to reveal teeth, and the slit eyes cracked open to glow red and green. Suddenly the red light faded and she saw the creature in its full color. It. Was. TERRIFYING. She nearly puked again. It was a five-year-old's drawing of their nightmare come to life. Aside from the TV face, there were two sets of eyes and a mouth and what honestly looked like human intestines behind the TV. Plus the numerous vines and long plant hands and then it laughed. Holy mother of Celestia, its laugh. Like Flowey's, but distorted and loud and deep. Finally, she could move, but the mutated Flowey creature began shooting stars out of its eyes.

_Sure. It's shooting stars. I can't be weirded out by that. Aight imma head out._ Miranda walked the opposite direction and immediately ran into a wall. _Looks like there isn't any backing out._ She turned and popped her neck, somehow having not been hit by the star things. She didn't have the SOULkeeper, but she had her wits and five years of gymnastics training. Hopefully that would be enough. Suddenly, as if the universe responded to her thoughts, a slightly worn dagger materialized in her hand and a heart locket around her neck, making her feel stronger. She managed to dodge all the stars, but suddenly flamethrowers began sweeping fire across the floor. She managed to dodge with a quick quadruple back handspring, which she managed to stick the landing of. She noticed a running path up one of the claws directly to the eyes, and took it, landing a hit on the beast before jumping off and hitting the floor. Hard. A bar appeared and Flowey lost a mere two HP. She rolled out of the way of a circle of supersized versions of the pellets Flowey had threatened her with right after Toriel's death. There were more, which she dodged with relative ease, though there were a few close calls. Suddenly, a siren blared, and the SOULs appeared.

Flowey's voice rang out, garbled. "What? That's not supposed to-" but he was cut off as the SOULs began to glow and circle around Miranda. Their warm, colored light brought peace to her and she began to lift into the air with the SOULs. The knife slipped out of her hand and the locket unclasped from her neck, the clatter sparking a light that illuminated the space. The SOULkeeper formed in her hand as a long black blade with the symbol on the coins as the handguard. She faced Flowey and swung her sword out to the side. She charged, leaped, and smashed the sword on the TV screen, which shattered. Explosions filled the room and blinding light forced Miranda's eyes closed. Flowey collapsed and slowly shrank to just being a flower. Bruised, scarred, and weary, he looked up at Miranda. "H... How? How did you... Never mind. Just kill me."

Two buttons appeared in front of Miranda, one reading FIGHT and one reading MERCY. She shut her eyes and reached for the MERCY button.

"Why?" Flowey asked. "You had enough power to defeat me when I was nearly a GOD. Why do you insist on sparing me now?"

She pressed it again.

"Stop. You're not accomplishing anything like this."

"I won't hurt you, Flowey," Miranda said finally.

He glared at her and ducked into the floor. Miranda was alone. The world turned sideways and she fell, farther, farther, farther, into Gerson's shop. She'd been dreaming.


End file.
